Back in my retail days, I had an upscale gift and stationery store, surrounded by a very, very exclusive neighborhood. One of the largest real estate offices in the Twin Cities metro was located upstairs, providing an interesting opportunity—offer special pricing on items suitable for closing gifts, then appeal to realtors as their go-to source. Sadly, the idea flopped—agents in that particular office preferred to spend as little as possible on clients, regardless of the windfall (they’d gush about selling a $1.8M home, then balk at the idea of spending $25 on the requisite closing gift).

Cross that idea off the list.

Then replace it with a better one. 

We decided instead to appeal to the realty office customers directly. Turns out, that’s one of the most lucrative consumer markets around, providing not only new dollars, but the best possible opportunity to build long term loyalty.

We’d frequently build window displays around “new neighbor” themes, showcasing everything from moving announcements to personalized note pads with the address in print. When new home buyers stopped in, we welcomed them to the neighborhood, then asked ”What haven’t you found yet?,” jotting down a list of possible solutions to fit their needs: the best nearby pizza place (happily, in our mall), dry cleaner, florist, coffee shop, bakery, etc., in hopes of helping them ease into new digs.

The more they needed to find, the more we jotted down—on our own personalized note pad, of course, that included our address, phone number and website. Sometimes, they’d walk out with nothing but the list…nearly all the time, they’d be back, and they’d buy.

Better yet, they typically became our best long-term customers…and our most vocal, extolling the store’s virtues to friends and family. Win/win.

This morning, I ran across an interesting infographic that validates my theory about new neighbors (click to enlarge):

The amount of revenue new neighbors bring to the community can be staggering, even if you’re not in the obvious categories. After all, you sell to humans. They’re humans.

Time to connect the dots—especially with the housing market beginning an upswing.

Are you looking for creative ways to roll out the welcome mat? If not, you should be. Talk to realtors about providing a “Welcome to the neighborhood” packet. Check in with the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Work together with neighboring businesses to provide cross-marketing opportunities that appeal to new homeowners (and renters…don’t forget the renters….).

To this day, I remember who the first neighbor was that rang my doorbell, toting a plate of home baked cookies (as well as the first one that brought wine, but hey). Put effort into nailing that first impression, then nurture what comes next, possibly for years.

Infographic courtesy of Entrepreneur.com

I type this with high hopes and a bit of astonishment. Apparently, Facebook has been listening to the armies of Page admins and fans frustrated (that’s the nice word) by the use Edge Rank to impose a “big brother approach” when determining what someone sees in their newsfeed.

The result? Beta testing of a new option: a Pages Feed, tucked into the Pages section on the left hand side of the newsfeed screen.

It hasn’t rolled out for everyone yet—just a few lucky folks in the test group. Want to see what the results would look like on YOUR newsfeed? Log into your FB account, then click this link. Voila! There are all. Those. Missing. Pages. Again.

Yes, this makes me happy, although history has taught us that Facebook’s actions are almost always followed by a financial “Yes, but….” surprise (first, we see reach numbers for each post, then sudden horrific drops in reach, immediately followed by an “invitation” to increase your visibility by paying to “promote” posts?).

Fingers are crossed. Sure would love to welcome our long-missed fans back to the fold.

My Wish List:
The Pages Feed included in the newsfeed drop down menu someday…see here.

Last week, Facebook admitted they’ve been quietly testing a new way for fans to see posts from the pages they’ve “liked.” For the test group, hovering their mouse over the “Liked” button on pages provides a new option: “Get Notifications.” You know—that little globe in the top left corner of the screen, where you’re alerted when someone comments on your posts, tags you in a photo, etc. (depending on how you have settings lined up).

On the surface, this looks like a lovely idea, bringing pages and fans back together again.

But it’s not. It’s actually the fast track to pages losing their fans….and fast. 

Yes, page posts are missing from fan news feeds (The 3/50 Project page, for example, worked hard to build a fan base of 92,000+, yet only a sliver see our regular posts in their news feed). It’s a shame, since users/fans opted in. They said “Sure, send me your stuff…I’m interested,” yet EdgeRank has erected a barrier wall that prevents us from doing so (as I’ve posted about here and here and here).

Now…Notifications as a solution? What happens when a user—who has “liked” 87 Pages, for example—starts getting pinged for every. Single. Post. From. Every. Single. Page. All. Day. Long?

Let’s compare the options, from a fan’s point of view:

Receiving page posts in News Feed

1. See the post

Receiving page posts in Notifications

1. Click on the Notifications globe
2. Click each individual notification link
3. Be taken to each individual page
4. Then, finally, see the actual posts

One. By one. By one. By one. By one. By one.

Four times the work, four times the hassle.

It won’t take long for irritated users to start un-liking pages just to get Notifications under control, cutting the final connection left between fans and pages. For those of us running grass roots campaigns, this so-called solution is the fast track approach to destroying so much of what we’ve built…..

I, for one, will not be asking fans to add us to Notifications. Just can’t risk being lost in the crowd of endless notifications they day each frustrated fan wades into it with a hatchet.

This morning, a respected friend forwarded a link, pointing to an online petition to abolish EdgeRank on Facebook. You know—the evil monster that’s devastated the visibility of most Pages in their fans’ news feeds.

I “get” why people are upset and want change—admittedly, I’m one of them. The 3/50 Project’s FB page has been hit as hard as anyone else’s. We have more than 92,000 fans, yet far fewer than that ever see us in their news feed. Faaaaaaar fewer.

More typical Pages (audiences under the 92,000 count) average between 8%-12& on most posts. Seriously. One-tenth of their hard-earned audience.

Paid posts might hit slightly higher numbers, but upon closer inspection, frequently include a disproportionate percentage of viewers from South America, India, and Eastern Bloc countries. Not exactly the target audience they were investing in.

So yes, I abhor the impact of EdgeRank, but…I also understand why it’s necessary. 

Before jumping into this, we need to get a couple of definitions on the table:

Edges (links) define the relationships between nodes (people, groups, stories…or in FB terms, Friends, Pages, and Posts).

EdgeRank is an algorithm system that assigns values to those links, based on specific criteria programmed into it by human beings (Facebook employees).

Okay. Now that we understand the lingo….

In my opinion, getting rid of EdgeRank isn’t the answer. It does serve a purpose, fine tuning what appears on your screen, based on specific interactions, patterns, and demographics, etc. Otherwise, we’d be inundated with ads from Singapore. And Brazil. And India.

EdgeRank only became a problem when it was “dialed up” to a degree that eliminated posts from Pages—and now, friends—from user news feeds. Posts they’d opted into. Sadly, FB has now jiggered the algorithm so much that only a sliver gets through, limited to what FB deems worthy.

And THAT is the problem.

Facebook employees decided they know more about users than the users themselves. They adjusted EdgeRank based on those mistaken beliefs, complicated by profit-driven motives that come from being a public company.

If there was a petition focused on adjusting EdgeRank—not eliminating it—the odds of it catching FB’s attention would be far greater than one asking them to dump it entirely. That’s not to say they’d change things…just that it might not be as laughable as the “baby and the bathwater” approach, to the fine folks in Palo Alto.

Think of this like a car:

Sure, you can drive it with monster wheels, but that’s overkill (EdgeRank in it’s current, aggressive form).

You could drive it without wheels, on the rims, but that doesn’t do the car any good (operating FB without EdgeRank).

The solution is in the middle. Put on normal tires, then only add air if a hole appears (EdgeRank in moderation).

Just my two cents.

An interesting infographic drifted across my virtual desktop today, detailing when the best times are for a Page Admin to post on Facebook:

(Courtesy: Pandemic Labs. Click graphic to englarge)

Like everyone else, I’ve been tracking results on my own Facebook page—specifically, that of The 3/50 Project—with slightly more colorful results that what the graphic above shows:

• Posts that run in the evening garner more/faster interaction, but the attitudes tend to be less positive (sometimes verging on snarky and argumentative)

• Posts that run during daylight hours tend to garner more reasonable, more thoughtful responses; the level of positivity is considerably higher

• Posts that run in the 8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. block seem to reach more small business owners than at any other time of day; their responses are typically the most detailed and focused

• Monday tends to be slower than Tuesday through Friday; Saturday is a toss up, depending on time of year. Sunday’s a black hole most weeks.

• Funny graphics get forwarded. A lot.

• Promoted posts don’t build the audience, regardless of when they run

• Letting one’s personal/real life slip in now and then solidifies the human connection (if you’re on our FB page, you might recall when I suddenly had bats roosting by the door to my deck…?)

• Pinning posts does have an impact, provided the pinned item is a graphic (quick read, quick smile, quick “like” kind of stuff). Text pins aren’t as effective, by a long shot.

So, what’s your experience been? Please share in the comments.

I’ve said it 1,000 times. Never, ever click an email link from an unfamiliar sender. Never, ever, ever log into their website using one of your social media passwords. Both actions are the equivalent of handing your house keys to a total stranger, then watching what happens next.

This morning, I received an email from something called Connect.Me. Make no mistake—this isn’t the same as trusted About.Me (which begs the question: Was that intentional?). 

Here’s the email—click the image to enlarge:

I’ve never heard of Connect.Me, so the fact they insinuated we’d been in contact before (by apologizing for being quiet) raised a red flag.

Same for the part about having logged in before, using my LinkedIn account. Uhhhh…no. Haven’t logged into them, haven’t heard of them, haven’t even remotely considered handing my LinkedIn login info to an unknown entity.

Turns out I’m not the only one who smells something fishy (or half-baked, depending on whose story you believe). Are they legit? Maybe. Are they misleading? Yup. See email, above.

Are they going to get me as a customer? No way.

Color me crazy, but any promotion that relies on “stealth” activity in their promotion or sign up process is getting kicked to the virtual curb. Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels that way—highly regarded security experts at Sophos agree, in spades.

Transparency is vital, given how easily a hacker can hide behind a legit looking email, then hammer your social media accounts.

Is Connect.Me legit? Who cares? They burned the trust bridge down with a misleading email, followed by a bare bones website.

Learning moment
If you ask customers to sign up for something:

(a) only use an opt-in mailing list where recipients have signed up to receive your emails;

(b) offer a non-social media login option; and

(c) be extremely transparent on your website about both your privacy policy and how personal information will be used.

Omitting any of the three risks landing you on someone else’s blacklist or blog.

Nearly everyone has a PayPal account, for business and/or personal use. Today, (yet another) scam email landed in my inbox, but this one took a new approach.

This one tricks you into being a good Samaritan. 

Here’s what landed in my inbox:

My reaction: “Huh? I don’t recall an automatic payment coming up.”

So I read the message:

First reaction: “Huh? I paid my VPN service a few months ago, for the entire year.”

Next reaction: “Hang on—that’s not my bank.”

Conclusion: Someone else’s alert ended up in my inbox. Better let PayPal know.

That’s what the scammer is betting on. By providing a handy “Do you confirm this payment” clickable link, they make it easy for well-meaning folks sweep in and save the day, either by denying payment or contacting PayPal about the mis-routed message.

Gotcha.

Thankfully, I don’t click email links. Instead, I manually went to the PayPal website, which is when red flags began to appear. You see…I don’t have a PayPal account connected to that email address. Still, not wanting to leave someone else in the lurch, I tried logging into PayPal with this address, using the “Forgot my password” option, in case there was some ages-old account lurking in my past.

Sure ’nuff. No account found. Confirmation this was a scam.

Back to the inbox.

Upon closer inspection, I found a couple of clues that should have tipped me off, had my better side not leapt into “Do unto others” mode.

See that little period at the beginning of the Subject line? PayPal wouldn’t let that kind of typo slide–especially on an automated message that goes out thousands of times daily.

Next, I looked at the message header itself. An even more obvious red flag stood out:

At first glance, it looks good, but…. The domain ends with .co, not .com.

Wrong.

(Sure, the weird dangling m> seems obvious now, but how often do you actually read the “From” address letter for letter? Especially one that normally appears in your inbox?)

For years, I’ve been telling folks to only click email links sent by trusted sources. Lately, my advice has changed—never click links from anyone you have an account with (banks, credit cards, PayPal, Google Checkout, airlines, hotels, electric companies, cable companies, etc.). If you own something of value that the sender oversees—financial, points, credits of any kind—it’s worth the effort to open a new browser window, manually visit their site, and confirm the request is valid.

Otherwise, you might be the one who needs saving.

Heads up for those of you using Google Forms: The “submit” step isn’t working consistently for users with mobile devices—as of late, nothing submitted from a mobile device is coming through on either The 3/50 Project or RetailSpeaks website. All looks fine from the user end, but nada shows up in the Google spreadsheet. Not even the hint of a form visit.

I ran a little test to see if embedding forms with our CSS was the problem (for those of you who understand geek speak). Doesn’t seem to have any impact, drats.

We just added a note to the top of all forms asking folks to use a desktop or laptop when completing their information. You might want to do the same if you’re using this method to collect user information (mailing lists, registrations, reservations, contest entries, etc.).

Attrition is part of the customer landscape, which means always keeping on eye on the next generation coming up the ranks. How well do you know them? Or, more accurately, how well do you understand them?

The Mindset List is the brainchild of Tom McBride (Keefer Professor of the Humanities) and Ron Nief (Public Affairs Director) at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. Annually updated in early August, it provides reference points for faculty as they welcome incoming freshmen, reminding them how different the world looks through a new generation’s eyes.

If you’re a small business owner offering consumer goods and services, the list might be a good reference point for you too.

Or at the very least, a fascinating read.

Check it out here.

From Inc. Magazine:

Experts agree that small businesses are good for the economy. But can they actually improve people’s health? A group of sociology professors from Louisiana State University and Baylor University thinks there could be a connection. The professors say that places with high concentrations of microbusinesses—companies with fewer than five employees—have healthier residents.

The researchers looked at more than 3,000 U.S. counties, using small business numbers from the 2000 census. They then charted the health of residents in 2007, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What’s the connection? According to Carson Mencken, a sociology professor at Baylor who helped conduct the study, when businesses are locally owned, their owners are more interested in improving their communities by funding local hospitals, health education, and recreational facilities. 

Yet again, proof positive that supporting local, independent brick and mortars pays off in spades. Now, whaddaya say we “Pick three, spend 50…?”