Because we talked about phishing scams in general as well as security on Twitter and Facebook, I thought I’d go over some details which I wish there had been more time to cover in the piece.

There Is Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself
Caution in your web dealings is always good practice and a little paranoia can be a good thing. But, I don’t think there is a need to be fearful of using Twitter and Facebook. These, and other social media web sites, can be very valuable and enriching tools to help you keep in touch with friends and family members and even meet new people you may never had an opportunity to meet otherwise.

Circles Of Trust
I use different social media sites in different ways and each site has its own trust level. For instance, on Facebook I only “friend” people I know or who are close friends of people I trust. I haven’t necessarily met everyone IRL (in real life), but I have some kind of ongoing relationship with them. My Facebook privacy is set to show my updates to only friends. This way, I can be a bit more free about how much personal information I post there.

On Twitter I will follow just about anyone and allow just about anyone to follow me from my mom to selected celebrities. I closely follow those whom I think will point me towards interesting and enlightening things to read, who will tweet things I find humorous, and whom I find otherwise interesting. I am very careful not to tweet too much personal information because I know Twitter is not nearly as private as Facebook.

I have also been playing with Foursquare lately. Because this service can offer clues as to when I’m home or not and where I am, I do not have each “checkin” ported to Twitter, but I do to Facebook. Again, I have more trust in those whom I friend on Facebook as opposed to the very public Twitter. In my short time on Foursquare I have been very choosy who I will allow to follow my status.

The Latest Twitter Worm
Problems on Twitter and Facebook tend to be more along the lines of phishing scams rather than a virus or malware infestation. In the case which prompted the interview for the TV spot, one would see a message in their Twitter Direct Message list, purportedly from someone they follow. Included in the message is a link which when clicked led to a very convincing, but bogus, login page inviting the visitor to provide their Twitter user name and password.

When the bogus login page was used, the user’s name and password was captured by the web site and used by a program to log into the unsuspecting person’s Twitter account and start sending messages to try to trick others into clicking the link and giving their Twitter user names and passwords to the phishers.  It’s amazingly simple, but clever. And it works – even against those who are rather social media savvy.

Protecting Yourself
I mentioned in the interview that you should be cautious about login pages which come from emails, tweets or Facebook wall postings. If you are asked to log in, check the URL in the address bar very closely. For instance, the login for Twitter is a popup on their home page. So, if you see something like http://twitter.anyotherdomain.com you can know immediately this is a phishing site.

To better protect yourself, take the time to go to the login pages for your email, Twitter, Facebook, your bank, etc. Pay attention to the URL in the address bar as well as how the page looks.The URL in the address bar is much more difficult to fake than the look of the login page. Being familiar with the addresses will also help you avoid other phishing attacks which are more sophisticated and more difficult to detect.

Keep in mind, too, your bank is most likely not going to email you if there is a problem with your account and ask you for your user name and password. Neither is Western Union, eBay, PayPal, the FBI, the IRS nor any other government agency. If you get a message from your bank, or anyone else, with a link supposedly leading to a login page, don’t click on the link but instead type the address into your address bar – or (even better) click on the link in your web browser’s favorites list or booksmarks which you created earlier. That way, you can avoid the phishing site and know you are going to a legitimate site.

If you do receive an odd message which looks like it’s from someone you know, don’t be afraid to email the person and ask about it. It could be they actually did send the message. Go with your gut feeling: if it looks strange and out of place it probably is. It doesn’t hurt to ask. If the message didn’t come from them, they might appreciate knowing their account had been been compromised.

Be cautious of third party applications developed for services like Twitter and Facebook. There have been instances where people have set up malicious applications disguised to look like  a game or a useful tool to help you get more out of the site. Check out third party applications before you provide your user names and passwords to them.

User Names And Passwords
I did a piece last year about passwords which you can check out here: “Four Steps To Better Passwords.” In it, I advise people not to use the same password on every web site. This is especially important if you use the same user name on every site. Think about it in light of this situation: if you used the same user name and password for Twitter as your other services it would be very easy for someone to completely take over your online life. Think about having your email, social media, PayPal and/or eBay accounts taken over by someone else. It’s worth repeating: Use a different password on each web site which requires a password. You can use the pattern method I describe in the post linked to above or come up with your own system.

I even go so far as to have a different user name for my online banking account. I love the convenience of online banking, but I feel that convenience needs to be balanced against some healthy caution when it comes to keeping things secure.

Social Media Tip for Those With Teens
A friend of mine who has a teenage daughter vets those her daughter friends on Facebook very carefully. Before her daughter is allowed to friend someone on Facebook, she is required to explain how she knows the person and confirm the person is really who they say they are. I believe with teens this is a very prudent way to help prevent perverts from taking advantage of kids.

What Do You Think?
Do you have any hints to share about security on social media sites? Please tell us about it in the comments.

Image courtesy of KWTX

Ah, but it wasn’t to be. The nice lady working the cash register had no idea how to use it. She scanned the item I wished to purchase, but, since I had no cash and needed to use my debit card she had no idea what to do next. She called for a manager to come assist. Three times she called over the course of ten minutes before someone came to her aid.

I could tell she was flustered. During the wait I asked, “Haven’t you been trained how to work this thing?” Her reply was shocking, but not surprising given the situation. “No. This is my first day here and they stuck me on this thing. No one showed me how it works and I have no idea how to run it.” While we waited for the manager, she went on to tell me she’d worked in retail for a number of years. Although she had been a cashier before, this particular system was unlike any other she’d worked with and she was almost completely unfamiliar with how it worked.

By the time the manager arrived three or four people joined then line behind me – and this was the only checkout open at the time. It was getting tense because not everyone in line was especially patient. I can imagine others joined the line and simply left after realizing things weren’t moving along; abandoning their purchases and going to the other mass merchandiser down the road.

The manager acted like it was a huge inconvenience to have to come and show the new cashier how to do her job on her first day. She treated the lady with a great deal of contempt as she walked her through the process of completing my transaction.

At one time in my career, I worked for this particular mass merchandiser. Then, it was the master of retail. People begged to get into its management training program because it was the best in the business. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, that would never have happened in my store.”

I’m not going to speculate on what was going on that particular day in that particular store. It could be they were short handed and the manager felt she had no choice but to put the rookie on the checkout while she attended to other matters. Was that the best solution? Think of the impression this gave to me and the other customers waiting in line. Think also of the frustration and humiliation the new employee felt. She probably didn’t feel very valued as a member of the team.

If you are going to have employees interacting directly with customers it is essential you make sure they are properly trained. If you don’t make sure they know what they’re doing it’s bad for the customer, bad for the employee, and certainly bad for you and your brand. This person is the face, voice, personality of your company to each person with whom they come in contact. You owe it to everyone to make sure they are adequately prepared for the task at hand.

Granted, it takes time for someone to mature into a role. While this is true, good preparation is essential. Would you rather build your business on a foundation of sand or rock?

What if the manager had run the register and had the new person doing something else that day? How might have the situation been different?

photo credit: karindalziel

• It’s just a fad
• Only “techies” are really into that kind of thing, not “real” people
• My customers wouldn’t get on that thing
• It’s a waste of my (time, money, attention …)

In their book “Trust Agents” (Amazon Affiliate Link) Chris Brogan and Julien Smith advise us not to look so much at the tools, but what the tools can be used for. Still, I would like to focus on some recently published statistics about  just one social media tool to illustrate a point.

Check out this article from Business Insider, “Guess How Many People Log Into Facebook Each Day.” According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg 175 million people log into Facebook every day. I’m willing to bet there are not that many “techies” out there making up that number.

Stan Schroeder at Mashable cites some analysis done by iStrategyLabs in his article “Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older” showing the largest two growth demographics for Facebook are 35-54 years of age (190.2%) and 55+ years of age (more than 513%!). It would not be wise to overlook this statistic.

I submit that there are “real” people who are part of that growth. Some are your customers. There is a pool of potential customers part of that growth as well. It is not a waste of your time or money to attempt to tap into the attention of those people.

Facebook may one day slip into disfavor much like what appears to be happening to MySpace. You may not “get” Twitter. Google’s Buzz may not mature into something widely used for many months. It doesn’t really matter, though. It’s not the tool that’s important – it’s what the tool is used for. You may use a certain wrench to fix something today, that doesn’t mean you won’t use a newer one later.

photo credit: emilykreed

Last week I needed my oil changed. Now, I don’t normally go to my mechanic because they do charge a bit more than I can pay elsewhere for this relatively simple service. My regular, locally owned oil change place sold out to a corporate competitor and quit stocking the brand of oil I prefer to use. A friend recommended the place where he gets his done, so I looked them up on the web.

This is a one-location small business managed by the lady who owns it. The shop does quick oil changes, car washes and detailing. I googled them and found their web site. It’s simple, somewhat how I describe a local web site could be in the article I refer to above. I clicked the email link, and asked if the oil I prefer to use was in stock in a message. To my surprise, I received a response within a couple of hours letting me know that they do stock my brand of oil and there is a slight up charge for it. So far so good.

When I went to the shop a few days later, I mentioned our email exchange to the owner. She remembered and noted that I was the first person to actually send an email to her asking about the shop. I explained to her that I work in web marketing and that she “passed the test” because she responded so quickly to my question. She was surprised when I mentioned many small businesses don’t answer their email in a timely fashion – or at all. “Doesn’t everyone answer email from their customers right away?” she asked. She was quite taken aback that many businesses don’t.

“That’s just good customer service,” she said.

And she’s right.

This lady may not yet know the difference between socmed and Club Med, but she knows how to serve her customers. Isn’t that what it’s really all about?

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

Here is the diagram I was thinking about in my head at the time:

The way I envision this, everything flows downhill for the most part. You might also think of this as a funnel. The only difference here is sometimes links go up as well as down.

Let’s say you’re working on a web marketing strategy for a company which sells, installs and services hot tubs. The company already has a web site which offers brochures via mail to those who request them. This is the main source of leads for the sales force for this company, so the ultimate goal of the web site is to get potential customers to order a brochure. The web site has lots of information about hot tubs with pictures, specifications, financing options, care and use tips and, of course, an order form to request a brochure.

The sales staff, in-house designers, installers and service personnel post information to the blog, which of course has links back to relevant sections of the web site. The blog contains images and videos made by the various departments in the company which are posted on “Media Sharing Sites” and embedded or linked to from the blog. The “channels” on those media sharing sites are linked to from the main web site, as well.

As blog articles, images and videos are added in their various places, they are “tweeted” and posted on Facebook, MySpace, etc. with links back to the content. Staff members are encouraged to join Facebook, Twitter, etc. and keep and eye open for people who may be looking for information about hot tubs to see if there are any conversations to join. Those people in the company’s service area might be encouraged to check out the web site (and, hopefully, order a brochure). A light touch is all that’s needed. There’s no “selling” in these spaces, just information and the occasional “Please check out our web site if you want specific information.”

Each staff member is assigned a forum or other web site which is aimed at those who are interested in hot tubs. They are encouraged to check in, read the posts and participate. Answering questions is highly encouraged in these forums. Again, there’s no “selling” going on. It’s all about giving out good information and pointing others to the web site if appropriate. It’s expected that once people are known to be knowledgeable about hot tubs, those who are interested in purchasing a hot tub in the company’s service area would be more likely to visit their web site rather than someone else’s because they would be dealing with people they kind of know already.

Some of you may be thinking this is somewhat simplistic. It is; but, it well serves the purpose of giving a broad overview of how a managed web marketing plan might work. There are many different ways in which this might be done depending on what business a company is in and many other circumstances. Each business must look at the online landscape and figure out its own detailed strategy.

I am a Dave fan and have been for over a year since I first read his book “The Total Money Makeover” (Amazon Affiliate Link). Since then I’ve gone on to take his Financial Peace University (FPU) Class and to be a class coordinator for FPU at our church.

Socmed Savvy
Dave’s organization is very social media savvy. Whether he personally directs this or not, I do not know. What I do know is that he has surrounded himself with some very dedicated, talented and knowledgeable people who have taken to social media and set a high standard for those who wish to follow.

I started following @DaveRamseyLive and @RamseyShow on Twitter last year just before Dave held his Town Hall For Hope simulcast event.  The producer of the Dave Ramsey radio show, Blake, does most of the tweeting for the organization. During the Town Hall For Hope a large number of us who were hosting the simulcast were also tweeting amongst each other and interacting with Blake. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by how many were tweeting their locations and attendance numbers as well as juggling incoming questions and his other duties. Still, he did a great job taking questions on Twitter and Facebook and reporting on what was going on behind the scenes. For those of us watching the simulcast and following on Twitter, this event took on a whole new dimension as an interactive event rather than a one-way “talking to.”

Over the past year the Ramsey organization has continued to do social media very well. They have tens of thousands following them on Twitter and Facebook. Events and special promotions are well-promoted by Dave’s team members, and those who are fans and followers relay the information. It works very well. These folks really understand “The Groundswell,” “The Conversation,” and how to get people who like their products to spread the word. (Of course, it helps that they have great products, too).

Savvy at Live Events, Too
Their sensitivity to online social was very evident during their recent Total Money Makeover Live (TMMO) event in Houston, TX.

I bought tickets to see Dave live in Houston back in September, a full four months before the event. I learned of the event through their Twitter stream and got tickets for a special introductory price of $9.99, well below the regular $40.00 and was well promoted through Twitter and Facebook.

The day before the TMMO event, Dave held his Entre Leadership workshop. This set of classes is aimed at entrepreneurs and business people who are looking to strengthen their leaderships skills. There were a number of people live-tweeting throughout the course of the day. Because of the bits of information which “leaked” out, I’m now looking to attend the training myself to sharpen some of my skills.

On the morning of the event, before the doors opened, there were a few of us who gathered outside in the cold waiting to get in. Of course, there were people with their iPhones and Blackberrys going with some, of course, tweeting about the event. Two of Dave’s staff came out looking for us “Tweeters.” They took our pictures to put on their live blog of the event (which was, unfortunately, taken down a couple days after the event).

A little bit after they came out and took our pictures, the two came back out and gave us vouchers for a free item among the many things offered for sale at the event. We ended up giving ours away to a young couple who were interested in taking FPU, but that’s another story. This was totally unexpected and very welcome.

Interactive Through Texting
During the event, the people in attendance were encouraged to interact by texting answers to questions which were shown on the screen at the back of the stage. Attendee comments and answers to the questions were shown on the screen during the breaks.

The events I usually attend are more techie-oriented. Thus Twitter and Facebook are more commonly used. The general public, however, may not be tuned in to the mobile versions of those applications and texting is an excellent way to go. A special 5-digit phone number was set up to make it more convenient to send texts. One sign of widespread participation was the cumulative answer to the question asking how much everyone’s debt load was. The total of those who responded out of the 8000 or so participants was over $700 million.

Of course, the regular “Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, etc.” and “join our online community” slides were shown, too.

Customer Service is Excellent, Too
I’ve been on somewhat of a rant about customer service lately. The Ramsey organization is very keen on this as well. As an example:

I recently purchased six FPU Membership Kits via their web site. I’ve only ever had one kit at a time sent to me, and that was sent to my P.O. Box. I placed my order on a Wednesday and was informed the following Tuesday that my package would go out the next day. When I responded to this notice with my disappointment on the late ship date, I received an answer right away from Josh, the Church Department Advisor. The explanation was forthright and honest. All was shipped according to their policy (which I have to admit I failed to read thoroughly). Still, I did receive my packages before our class started. All is well.

This past Sunday was the first session of the latest FPU class my wife and I are coordinating. After this first class, I received an email query as to how the class went. I assume this initial contact was automatically generated, but the response to my answer was not. I had a great email exchange, again with Josh, about the class and some other things. This correspondence goes to show the effort going on to help make sure the customer is part of the team and not just a sales target. I appreciate that very much.

In putting together this article I had need to contact Dave’s Media Office. Jane came through with the head shot you see above and permission to use the image of me and Jen from their web site. It was all quick and efficient with no hassles nor drama.

Worth Watching
If you’re involved in business, I highly recommend you check these folks out. They do the web and customer service very well, indeed. You can learn a lot from them.

Photos courtesy of The Lampo Group.

I had the chance to hear Chris speak at last year’s PubCon South in Austin, and was impressed with this ideas on how businesses can move in the social media sphere. I’ve been following his blog and tweets for over a year now, so when he and Julien released their book I put it on my “must read” list.

I wasn’t disappointed. May of the ideas presented in this book are also covered in Brogan’s other writings. What’s nice about having them in book format is that everything is arranged by topics in an easily-digested format along with a lot of material from Smith (who, by the way, is going on my “follow” list).

I approached reading this book from the perspective that people don’t want to be “sold to” any more. People are tired of traditional marketing and PR methods which attempt to tell them how to think, what to buy and how much to spend. I firmly believe the tide is quickly turning against this concept in communications. People have been talking about brands and products for years and The Net allows those communications to flow more freely than ever.

If “companies” and “brands” are to succeed they need to adapt to the online culture. What Brogan and Smith do in “Trust Agents” is lay out a road map on how to understand and join the communities where The Conversation is already going on. They don’t give a set of step-by-step instructions showing how to succeed on Twitter or Facebook, but rather they explain the concepts needed to succeed in social media settings in general. These concepts can be applied to just about any on line community or communications tool. There are a number of examples of real life people who are already employing these concepts, and succeeding, to give you an idea of how powerful these tools can be.

The principles put forth can also be used by people looking to further their individual goals. Are you looking for a job? Then look to be a trust agent. Are you looking to create better relations between departments at work? Then look to be a trust agent. Are you looking to be a catalyst for change for the better? Then be a trust agent.

If you are looking to succeed in getting your message out online then “Trust Agents” is a must read. If you are still skeptical about web marketing, and social media marketing in particular, then you owe it to yourself to read the words of Brogan and Smith to see what you might be missing. Either way, taking time to read this volume is time well spent.

In a recent post entitled “HTML Email + Alt Tags = More Bagels Sold” on his Marketing Tech Blog, Douglas Karr has taken this idea one step further by recommending the use of plain text in HTML emails.

Douglas shows quite plainly what an HTML email with text embedded in images looks like when the images are blocked, which is the norm for most email applications. It’s blank. He makes an excellent case which I think email marketers would be wise to consider.

One thing I would add to this lesson on “alt” tags: use them! In web pages this is especially important for accessibility by those with impaired vision. Images are invisible to screen readers used by those with limited or no sight and the “alt” tags are the means by which that content becomes usable to them.

Lastly, I’ve been following Douglas since I heard him speak at OMS in Austin last year. He’s a sharp guy and I recommend you follow his blog if you’re not doing so already.

A few months ago, I was reading a blog post which I believe was written by either Chris Brogan or Seth Godin* and offered the advice to be extra nice to those who serve you when you are a customer. The encouragement was to smile, call the person by name if you know it or can read their name tag, say “please” and “thank you” and make a joke if you can. The idea behind this advice was to help make their day a little better and encourage better service for you and those who follow you. It seemed a great idea so I decided to try it.

I’ve made it a challenge to myself to try to make every server I come in contact with to smile. I may not succeed in this goal, but I can see as I use each person’s name and act politely towards them their demeanor and stance changes. I note the people visibly relax. It’s an amazing transformation.

Here are some examples:

Example 1: A couple weeks before Christmas I needed some coffee. Since my wife and I planned to do our regular grocery shopping within a day or two, I headed over to a “Dollar Store” down from the restaurant where we were lunching to buy enough to tide me over. When it was my turn to pay, I took out my dollar bill and, just as a joke, swiped it in the card reader a few times.

The young lady behind the register looked at me like I was a nut and said, “Sir, you can’t swipe a dollar bill. It doesn’t work that way”

“Oh,” I replied, “I never pay with cash any more so I forgot.”

After I paid she bagged my stuff and I grabbed the bag and headed out the door. “Sir,” she called after me, “don’t you want your receipt?”

“Does it work in the swiper?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then I hardly think I want it then.” I smiled at her and at this point she finally got that I was joking and laughed out loud.

Success.

I also succeeded in embarrassing my 13-year-old son to the point where he opted to wait for me outside.

Bonus! (He knows I’m kidding.)

Example 2: A friend and I went into a local chain “casual dining” restaurant for lunch. Our server was obviously new and was a little flustered as she went through the motions of getting our drinks and food orders. I made note of her name and each time she came by I would ask for something small and make a big deal to my friend how she was “going to hook us up.” I made sure to call her by name as I did this.

By the time lunch was over she had relaxed and was serving all the tables around us like an old pro.

Examples 3, 4 & 5: The other day I found myself at the local Veterans Administration hospital for my annual physical. In my opinion workers in VS hospitals are among the most over-worked and under-appreciated workers out there. They put in long hours and deal with a clientele who have an entitlement mentality to the point where they are often rude and sometimes abusive to the people who are trying their best to help them. This often reflects how the caregivers treat them back. I’m not saying that veterans are not entitled to the care – they most certainly are. However, that entitlement does not mean they have the right to run roughshod over those who provide care for them. I also know the VA system has its problems, but overall I’ve never had bad care at any VA facility I’ve visited.

My VA routine starts before 6:00 AM when I arrive at the hospital to get in line to get lab work done. That’s very early for me to be someplace, and I’m sure the folks who work that area of the hospital find it pretty early, too. Most everyone’s tired and cranky, and the person who dispenses labels and number tickets often takes it with both barrels as the first person most of us come in contact with.

When I arrived at the window for my turn I could see she was in a sour mood already. I smiled and gave her as cheerful a “good morning” as I could muster on no coffee. When my name appeared on the screen after I swiped by ID Card I said, “Oh, look. You were expecting me.” Now, we both knew that my name appeared on her screen because the computer hooked to the card scanner did a database query, but the result was great nonetheless. I could see her visibly relax, she smiled and wished me a good day. The next person in line got an enthusiastic good morning, too.

Pass it on!

Next came the person who took my blood for the lab work. He was already in good spirits and we bantered back and forth about this and that while he did his business. I wonder, though, how many people came in there with a sour attitude and took him for granted. By being polite, I may have extended his already good mood.

After I visited with my doctor, it was back to the lab for some more blood work. Back in the line, only this time to find there was a problem with the computer hooked to the card scanner. When I finally got up to the window, there was the man who drew my blood earlier. He was still in a pretty good mood despite the problems he was experiencing and having to deal with the impatient people. That man is a rare gem in customer service: the person who seems unflappable.

To round out my appointments for the day, I had to get some inserts for my shoes. Funny, that while I was sitting there waiting and reading my copy of Trust Agents (note: Amazon Affiliate Link) one of the men waiting for his turn was talking about this very topic with the others sitting around us. He exhorted the people to be polite to the VA personnel because they work hard and try hard to give veterans good care.

The worker who called this man’s name sounded as if he’d rather be anywhere than where he was. Such lack of enthusiasm is noted most often at times such as one’s own execution. The man got up, asked the worker his name, greeted him again, by name and asked how he was doing. As they walked down the hall, you could hear the lightness in the worker’s voice as they conversed.

What a change.

I’m not a student of psychology, but I can certainly observe changes in a person’s attitude easily enough. The changes in just these examples should be enough to convince you to try to be extra nice to those you come in contact with on purpose. I can’t believe the difference in the quality of service I get, almost across the board, as I work on being more pleasant.

This is not to say you being nice will work every time. I think, just as in any relationship, customer service is a two-way street. I think these examples show there needs to be effort by both parties if excellent service is to be had.

This is also not to say that it is less incumbent upon the server to provide good service.  They are certainly primarily responsible for their service. But, if you as a customer can help the process along, why not do it?

The Golden Rule applies here as it does everywhere else: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

* I checked their blogs and couldn’t find this particular piece. It may have even been written by someone else. Please feel free to link to the proper post in the comments if you know it.

photo credit: jamieleto

What is the goal social media marketing?

• The main aim is to tell the story of a brand.
• The secondary aims are to open communications with customers – and -
• To get people talking.

What is the goal of customer service?

• The main aim is to communicate with customers – and -
• Meet their needs in order to make them successful.
• Hopefully all the while they are buying your product.

I think if we are to convince the folks who are still of the mindset that social media marketing is a fad we need to position it as customer service. This should be easy to do because it’s not just marketing or public relations. Yes, if you’re helping customers you are marketing in a way. Yes, if you are helping customers you are generating good P.R. But, if your goal is just to market or dish out a P.R. message or generate sales leads you’ll miss the bullseye and not get the best out of your efforts.

People no longer just want to be “sold to.”

Look at your social media efforts as doing customer service and you’ll hit a home run every time.

photo credit: xmacex