Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category

To Subscribe or Not To Subscribe…

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

I don’t have a print subscription to The Times, but like many Millennials, I receive NYTimes.com alerts to my Gmail account, I use the free NYTimes app on my smart phone to see Top News and I read articles of interest that show up in my personal twitter and Facebook feeds. Now the publisher wants to tell me something. An image of the letter is below, but here are the highlights:

- NYTimes.com is now offering digital subscriptions. This service was rolled out to customers in Canada on March 18 and will become available to the U.S. and the rest of the world on March 28

- NYTimes.com readers without a subscription will have access to a maximum of 20 articles/videos/slideshows/features a month. To access more, online readers will have to subscribe.

 - Current subscribers to the print issue will have unlimited access to NYTimes.com

 - Smartphone and tablet apps will still provide the top news section for free, but to access other sections through the apps, readers will have to subscribe.

 - There is no option to solely purchase a subscription to NYTimes.com, subscribers much choose:
    – $15 every 4 weeks for NYTimes.com and smartphone app access
    - $20 every 4 weeks for NYTimes.com and tablet app access
    - $35 every 4 weeks for NYTimes.com and smartphone app, and tablet app access
    – $29.60 every 4 weeks for NYTimes.com access and daily print issue home delivery (this is the rate in Atlanta, rates vary based on location)

 - Reader’s accessing NYTimes.com content via blogs, social media or search engines (like Google) will not be limited to the 20 features a month.

This new policy leaves me feeling conflicted. On one hand, I believe the free flow of news and information via technology is one of the greatest things to happen in my lifetime. With a device and connection to the internet, we have access to endless amounts of up-to-date information. My constant companion and smart phone tells me things before they can even be formatted for print, let alone delivered to my front door step. And much of this is free. And while I’d argue that this type of information exchange is invaluable to society, value typically comes with a price.

If we want something that is high quality, we usually have to pay for it. While the free flow of news and information makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, I have to remember that newspapers are a business – businesses that appear to require subscription and advertising dollars in order to survive. Yes, I want free information, but I also want accurate and clear information compiled by credible sources. What’s the point of receiving free information if it’s wrong?

There are a few points I find strange. First, why the price difference between the smart phone and tablet applications? Will they be dramatically different? Why is there no incentive for the unlimited option? It just appears to be the cost of the two options combined. Technically, doesn’t this option require subscribers to pay twice for the NYTimes.com access? Why is this change happening now? Is there any relation to the new Apple App store subscription policy entitling the company to 30 percent of all subscriptions sales through the App store?

While considering whether a digital subscription was worthwhile for me I realized that the way I currently access information from NYTimes (via blog, Google, social media, top news on my smart phone) means I will be relatively unaffected by these policies.

This leaves me wondering how many other Millenials are in the same situation and what audience is this really affecting? Who out there is the 20+ NYTimes.com article reader that only access content via the official website? Are tablet subscribers surprised that accessing the New York Times will come with a subscription fee when many other tablet media applications already require one? And finally, is this news revolutionary enough to be worthy of a NYTimes.com News Alert in my Gmail account or is that free service gone as well?

Posted in Conversation, Internet, Media, Millennials, News, Social Media | No Comments »

The MSLGROUP Guide to Facebook Updates

Monday, March 21st, 2011

The MSLGROUP Guide to Facebook Updates

Posted in Conversation, Internet, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »

37signals You Have Successfully Weathered a Customer Service Storm

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

All too often, companies give in to the instinct of burying their corporate heads in the sand when crises arise, instead of immediately engaging their customers.

In “How To Ride a Storm” (Inc., Feb. 2011), 37signals co-founder Jason Fried shares his company’s honest, transparent approach to dealing with unhappy customers when it’s Campfire product malfunctioned.

“When one of our products malfunctioned, thousands of stranded customers erupted in fury. Yet we came out of the crisis more credible than ever.”

Fried’s approach was to regularly update 37signals’ website with service repair status updates and engage each individual customer through Twitter who was voicing their ire or concern. They also took the blame. They acknowledged their responsibility for letting Campfire falter.

“We are battling demons on all fronts and losing. It’s pathetic, I know,” tweets 37signals co-founder, David Heinemeier. “We’re spending the goodwill we’ve built from years of reliable service like it’s going out of style.”

By signaling to customers that they were committed to fixing the problem while providing a continuous stream of status updates, 37signals avoided eroding all credibility as a service provider, and endeared itself to customers who saw 37signals as a true partner commitment to the needs of its customers.

They get it. In the always on conversation, 37signals made sure to openly communicate with its unsatisfied customers and strengthened its authenticity as a brand.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-to-turn-disaster-into-gold.html

Posted in Brand Awareness, Conversation, Internet, Social Media | No Comments »

How to manage (and not mismanage) your branded Twitter handle – Part 2

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Continuing from my last post, here are a few more general guidelines and pointers on what to do (and not do) with your brand’s Twitter handle.

Do: ReTweet, Don’t: Repeat Tweet

ReTweeting is great. Repeat Tweeting is not.

ReTweeting is sharing someone else’s tweet with your followers – it helps spread ideas that are worth spreading and engages others to become followers. ReTweet relevant tweets often.

Repeat Tweeting is sending out the same or very similar tweets from your own handle to increase the chance of visibility among your followers. It is ok in small doses, but carries brand-damaging potential if done in excess. Twitterati @GuyKawasaki, founder of AllTop, endorses repeat tweeting just three times over the course of 16 hours, and even this modest repetition has vocal opponents. Repeating tweets will get your message in front of more followers, but may turn off followers who get the message more than once or twice.

Pointers on avoiding Repeat Tweeting:

  • Tweet during the highest traffic times to get your message heard. People typically check their Twitter feeds before and after work and during lunch. Tweet between 7-9 a.m., 12-2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. in the time zone of your biggest markets to reach the largest audience.
  • Break up multiple tweets. If you’re promoting a contest or event and need to spread the word, rephrase each repeat tweet and buffer each one with tweets on other topics.
  • If you do it right, your followers will ReTweet for you. Share something your followers are interested in and watch the RTs multiply organically.

Do: Engage potential followers and provide incentive to follow, Don’t: Just sit there

Unless you’re an A-list celebrity, don’t count on people seeking you out and following your brand on Twitter. Like any startup, getting your Twitter handle off the ground requires

Pointers on getting others to follow you on Twitter:

  • Go to where the conversation is. Chances are that people are already talking about your brand or subjects related to it somewhere on Twitter, so find them using keywords and hashtags. Teusner Wine, a small Australian winery registered @Teusnerwine last January and started searching wine-related terms, following influential wine tweeters and engaging people tweeting about wine. They now have more than 7,500 followers.
  • Engage, don’t sell. Dave Brookes manages the @Teusnerwine handle, and says that he tries to keep conversations relaxed and steers clear of sales. “This is about building trust as well as relationships—and that comes from not selling.”
  • Offer something of value. Giveaways, contests, fan votes and exclusive content all provide incentive to follow your brand on Twitter. If you fill your feed with opportunities to influence your brand, win freebies and get brand announcements before they go to anyone else, people will follow.

Posted in Brand Awareness, Internet, Social Media | 1 Comment »

How to manage (and not mismanage) your branded Twitter handle – Part 1

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Congratulations, you just registered @MyBrand and you’re now officially on Twitter. Now it’s time to gain ground on the notoriously fickle medium, carefully script tweets to sound like they aren’t scripted and explain to your boss why you don’t have 10,000 followers after your first week.

Good luck – here are a few general guidelines and pointers on what to do (and not do) with your brand’s Twitter handle.

Do: Write Tweets in a casual, friendly tone of voice, Don’t: Use Webspeak

Business speak is unwieldy, cumbersome and difficult to fit into 140 characters, and a medium like Twitter calls for a more conversational, friendly voice, so cutting and pasting from press releases isn’t effective on Twitter.

It is, however, not difficult to go from friendly and conversational to writing in Webspeak where all ur tweets lik dis n til no1 gets wat ur saying. If you think using Webspeak will help you reach a younger consumer base, take a look at three youth-oriented brands with more than 1.5 million followers each: Zappos.com online shoe store (@Zappos), Woot.com discount website (@Woot) and Threadless t-shirts (@Threadless) all use correct grammar and spelling. So there.

Do: Respond and follow for customer feedback, inquiries and complaints, Don’t: Respond to/follow everyone

Twitter is an amazing customer service and insight tool that allows companies to directly connect with their customers in real-time, receive valuable consumer feedback and get heads up on issues before they become problems. Jet Blue, the New York-based airline, joined Twitter in 2007 to help with customer service after they realized their customers were Tweeting about travel problems via smartphones and laptops at the airport. Today, @JetBlue has 1.6 million followers and the handle serves as a primary customer service resource.

Of course, not all tweets are constructive. Between spammers, hashtaggers, stalkers and swearaholics (more here), your feed can get bogged down with off-topic or unwanted messages. Responding to these messages or following their authors increase the noise that obscures your brand.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Twitter tips for your brand……

Posted in Brand Awareness, Internet, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Is the Web Dead?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

via Wired Magazine

I picked up the new issue of Wired Magazine this past weekend and was drawn in by the cover story – The Web is Dead. The story focuses on the move from the “world wide web” to applications independent of browsers.

Chris Anderson makes an interesting point:

“Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives.”

Over the last week, I’ve seen quite a few disagreeing posts and conversations around Anderson’s article; however, there are a few things that we, as communication professionals, can take away from the overall discussion.

We have to be ready to take the conversation anywhere. First it was newspapers and radio, and then on to television; now we are moving beyond just web browsers to take brands into the hands of consumers (literally) through applications and mobile devices. As the web continues to evolve and communications channels change, it’s our job to understand the medium so that we can counsel our clients on how their target audiences are using it.

The Internet will continue to infiltrate our everyday activities. The bigger story isn’t about the technology or applications, but about how the internet shapes our habits and activities. Communication professionals should look for ways to share information and engage stakeholders through digital channels, including mobile, in addition to our “tried and true” channels.

There will always be the next big thing. We can’t always predict what the “next big thing” will be; however, we can stay focused on the bigger picture. Platforms like Foursquare and Twitter are great, but we must look at the behavior around them and what that tells us about consumers’ needs, not the channels themselves.

Posted in Applications, Conversation, Internet, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »