Benefits of Business Engagement
By · CommentsWhat are the Benefits of Social Engagement for Customer Service ?
- BRANDING – establish expertise and build awareness of what your business does.
- EXPOSURE – communicate with existing customers and expand your customer base
- SPREAD NEWS - Tell about new product deliveries, new sales initiatives, etc using less time and less money than traditional media.
- PROMOTE ALL TOUCH POINTS – drive traffic to all media initiatives (newspaper ads, blogs, web site, flyers, etc).
- PROVIDE FAST SUPPORT – answer customers questions instantly
- MARKET RESEARCH – get instant feedback from your customers.
- EMPLOYEE or TEAM COMMUNICATIONS – enable communications between employees or between project teams.
- BUILD LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS – both learn from and teach your fellow business owners. Identify co-op opportunities.
2du’s GeoHelp Platform lets you use leverage these benefits, and these apply to ALL TYPES of businesses including manufacturers, retailers, non-profits, religious organizations, and many more !
Please click here to see an example.
Click here to read more about our GeoHelp Platform.
By adding a GeoHelp Community to your website, you can have FULL CONTROL of your brand, the ability to capture leads, promote customer loyalty, offer superior service and capture valuable customer data to a hosted SQL database. Here is an example of a customized GeoHelp by 2du® Help Community that is added to an existing website:
LOYALTY features include:
- POINTS for participating in the conversation !
- CUSTOMERS get their own PORTAL
- REWARDS can be given INSTANTLY to conversation participants
- DELIVERY method is chosen by the consumer (Mobile, Email, Portal)
- Customer inquiries can be initiated via MOBILE SMS
- Individualized or group promotion targeting
- REDEMPTION tracking using linear & QR Mobile barcodes
- LOCATION, mobile position statistics
This combination of features is bundled in a very easy to understand consumer and admin interface that makes it FUN for everyone involved ! Social engagement + loyalty rewards is a WIN-WIN !
Click here to see the example above.
Click here to see the GeoHelp Portal
Click here to see the GeoHelp ADMIN portal.
Remember the days when retailers knew their customer’s names and preferences when they walked in the door ? Well… neither do I !! I think I’ve seen this on an old “GUNSMOKE” rerun !
For many centuries now, retail marketers have been directing their messaging towards broad categories of customers (mass marketing). This is now changing due to the application of technology into the retail space. Recording of purchase history and identifying buyer behavior is common now-a-days, but REAL change is just starting to happen… mass marketing is changing to personal marketing.
MASS MARKETING changing to PERSONAL MARKETING
Put yourself in the shoes of a business owner… you don’t want to take advantage of anyone, you just want to make a living… a completely normal urge to provide value to customers AND feed your family (ok build your business) ! How would you do that with the least amount of pain ???? In short, the least expensive and most effective way to build a business is to influence customers at the EXACT time that they are making a purchase decision. So how do you do this ?
Personal marketing means offering customers RELEVANT information and RELEVANT offers. Relevancy requires knowledge. You need to know about your customers’ interests and preferences… this is worth money because it lets you stop doing “shotgun” advertising. You can tailor your offers to match the needs of individuals ! This is the concept of the GeoHelp Platform. 2du creates a WIN-WIN system so businesses get relevant information and customers save money.
The chart used here is from: NextGen of Merchandising and Marketing – Customer Insights at the Point of Decision – An ebook written by DemandTec and downloadable from http://www.demandtec.com/
We will soon be launching our GeoHelp platform which has many state-of-the-art features. Customers can use our iphone app to ask “How late are you guys open today?”, or “Do you carry Gucci sunglasses?”, or “I bought some paint from your store last year… how can I match the color when I buy more?” Businesses answer these questions using their own iphone app or via a simple SaaS support screen. This IMMEDIATE gratification makes for happy customers !
Now that a “conversation” has been started, why not send something special to that customer so they come to your store ? GeoHelp lets you instantly select from premade messages and send these to one or many customers in less than 30 seconds ! We call these messages “Super Messages” because they contain over 25 pieces of information including a YouTube video, QR code for redemption, links to all social media, and much more.
GeoHelp includes the following features which a business accesses on the GeoHelpAdmin web site:
- GeoRewards - automatically send incentives to customers when they are close
- Mobile Chat - offer VIP service and be “top of mind” when customers have questions
- Instant Mobile Messages – send a mobile video message to any customer in 30 seconds
- GeoMaps - make your business stand out on our location-based business map
- Instant Promotion campaigns - send mass mailing with powerful targeting filters
- Build your database – easily add notes and details to customer files
- No POS redeem system - the GeoHelp redemption system does not require POS integration
- Verify your ROI – track customer behavior from initial contact to in-store purchasing
So, hopefully, you agree that… location-based customer service has arrived !
McAfee Predicts: Social Networking Threats to increase…
By · CommentsIt is one thing to identify a problem, and another thing to ACT when there is a problem. It is every persons responsibility to TAKE ACTION and use social networking responsibly !
Both businesses and customers need to take the time to understand the risks and consequences of distributing personal information WORLD-WIDE… FOREVER ! One must understand that publicly visible real-time location information, publicly documenting “stupid” behavior, and interacting with “anyone” IS (and always has been) a really bad idea. I wonder how many potential “presidents of the USA” will be eliminated because there is an instantly findable picture of them “having fun” when they were 18 years old ? It is time for social networking tools to be the LEADERS in “common sense” policies and protection technologies.
And then there is the criminal activity… this is a REAL and DANGEROUS threat of both theft and personal harm. Priority #1 for social networking tools should NOT be maximum sharing of information, priority #1 should be SAFETY. These threats are primarily online right now, but there will definitely be more more examples of offline criminal bahavior in the next few years due to careless exposure of WAY TOO MUCH information !
What brought all of this to mind was the following whitepaper from McAfee… (read it here) Here is a short quote:
Social Networks Will Be Platform of Choice for Emerging Threats.Facebook, Twitter, and third-party applications on these sites are rapidly changing the criminal toolkit, giving cybercriminals new technologies to work with and hot spots of activity that can be exploited. Users will become more vulnerable to attacks that blindly distribute rogue apps across their networks, and cybercriminals will take advantage of friends trusting friends to get users to click on links they might otherwise treat cautiously. The use of abbreviated URLs on sites like Twitter make it even easier for cybercriminals to mask and direct users to malicious Web sites. McAfee Labs predicts that cybercriminals will increasingly use these tactics across the most popular social networking sites in 2010.
NOTE to Businesses: Are you a NEW MEDIA leader? Help us forge new ground by supporting 2du’s “SECURE & ANONYMOUS Social Networking Platform for Business & Customer Engagement”.
Business Engagement – You Have to “Answer the phone” !
By · CommentsThe 2du team has concluded that we need to not just offer online new media tools, but we should also offer a FULL-SERVICE option to our GeoHelp Platform (i.e. REAL people who help you !). The challenge here is that when Microblogging is used as a Sales & Support tool, it is similar to the telephone from the standpoint of immediacy… if a customer asks a question on your microblog and no one answers… then that is a BAD THING for your business !
So who is going to be answering these messages ? Some companies will have “new media savvy” employees, but most will not… so 2du has decided to offer a relatively inexpensive service where people with customer relationship skills act as your “Social Help Specialists”. Now, typically… your Help Community will not be getting a huge number of posts all of the time, so this specialist will be “on call” to answer your microblog in the same way a 3rd party “answering service” helps with your phone calls. This Microblog Answering Service will be offered at a price level where it is less expensive than hiring your own employee AND we will be training your specialist to be a DISCUSSION person and not just an ANSWER person !
Discussions about your products and services adds interest and value to your business, and brings customers to your store or venue ! So here are some of the skills or characteristics that a Social Help Specialist should have:
- Answer in a timely manner
- Welcoming and friendly
- Conversational personality (here to “help” and not “sell”)
- Honesty about their role and knowledge level
- Ability to broaden topics which initiate discussion
- Respect customers as important neighbors
- Communicate the WIN-WIN relationship
- Clearly define any issues and the path to a solution
- Identify and contact appropriate colleagues when necessary
- Manage and follow up on the status of longer term issues
- Accurately report new media status to upper management
If you are interested in more info, please go to our web site ( GeoHelp Admin ). NOTE: contact us at specialist@2du.com if you are an independant contractor who would like to be one of our microblogging specialists.
I don’t think of myself as terribly materialistic, but I enjoy being where the ACTION is and would also like to make enough money so I can do what I want for the rest of my life. I think I found a subject that might fit the bill…
This graph is a little out-dated, but I’m sure the shape is still similar !
So where is this $$ coming from?
• Text ads to opt-in customers (VIP Clubs)
• Display ads on mobile web sites (scaled down to work on your phone)
• Display ads on mobile search results
• Display ads in mobile games or in TV-like guides
• Video ads that come with streaming video, or mobile TV
I know… that sounds like a LOT of ads on my little phone display. 2du is doing something to address that issue… we have created GeoHelp (web + SMS + email messaging) that lets every member manage their own messaging. You get your own account where you select exactly what local businesses can send information and discounts to you. You decide who can send messages, how many, and how often ! We are just getting started, so “pardon our dust”… I hope you agree that this is the most powerful messaging system you have EVER SEEN ! Click here to see GeoHelp
Phase 1: Identify your Customers
Promotions, interactive games and loyalty card programs all have the goal of identifying both new and existing customers. You offer rewards in exchange for customers telling you who they are. Once you know exactly who your customers are, you can start a dialogue with them… for example LISTENING to their opinions and preferences, and offering products and services which meet their needs ! These identification efforts should be running AT ALL TIMES or you are missing an opportunity to grow your business.
Phase 2: Exchange Value for Info
Now that you have a raw customer list, you can start to exchange value for more information about them. It isn’t really that important to know the basic details (name, address, phone, etc.)… it is needed for the process to work (contacting them), but basic details are NOT the goal !!! The goal is to know what people like and what motivates them to visit your business and purchase your goods and/or services !! What do they buy ? Why do they buy it from your business ? What can your business do differently so that person wants to buy more ?
Phase 3: Optimizing the WIN-WIN
Now that the business has more detailed information about individual customer preferences. The business can now create and monitor targeted VALUE OFFERS to individual customers and see if they perceive a meaningful benefit ! Since customer “perception” is an ever changing variable, the value offerings need to be changing to take “real-time information” into account (such as new product deliveries, previous offer reactions, even current weather conditions !!). So start experimenting and see what REAL-TIME value-added mechanisms cause customers to visit more, spend more time per-visit, spend more money per-visit, and tell more people about your brand !
NEW MEDIA and database technologies enable this process. The GeoHelp platform is designed to combine these technologies to make REAL-TIME experimentation easier so businesses can create a non-intrusive WIN-WIN for the community. We value your opinion !
Where Customers Go… Retailers Must Follow !
By · CommentsRetail Info Systems News (www.risnews.com) surveyed 48 major retailers about their “mobile commerce” status and plans. Examples of companies represented were; Sears, 1-800-Flowers, Ralph Lauren, Target, Amazon, etc. 32.7% of these companies are currently executing a mobile marketing (“m-commerce”) strategy either right now or will have one implemented soon.
Q - What business goal is driving this adoption of Mobile Marketing ?
A - The top answers from these companies were…
#1 = Improve Customer Loyalty, Retention and Repeat Visits
#2 = Create New Buying Opportunities for Existing Customers
#3 = Create a New Channel for Marketing, Advertising and Brand Awareness
This chart outlines how far they are in the adoption process:
Note: GeoHelp supports almost ALL of these m-commerce services !
Engagement Will Change American Businesses
By · CommentsTIME magazine featured Twitter on the cover of their magazine and used 3800 words to describe how “Twitter” will change American Business. Yes, the Twitter company offers the most popular microblogging system for “What are you doing?” usage, but will they be the ones to dominate when it comes to offering a professional ENGAGEMENT System for business applications? For example, if someone “tweets” your business asking “When do you guys close today?” and you don’t respond, then that is just as damaging to your brand as not answering phone calls !
Business engagement really needs a more flexible and complete set of features before it is ready to take on the tasks mentioned in the Times article. But… when twitter-like services are “ready for prime time”, then I believe their predictions are accurate. So, it is my opinion that Time’s article REALLY should be titled; Ten Ways that Social Tools Will Change American Business.
Here are 4 of the important trends that were identified:
- Hyper-Local Marketing - Opt-in demographic data will allow zip code targeted messaging. When mobile phones with GPS becomes more commonplace, geo-targetted marketing will be extremely accurate and dynamic.
- Making Old-World Advertising Work - business microblogging couples messages with mobile 2D barcode responses so that tracking when and where traditional advertising is seen, and when and where it is redeemed.
- New Ways to Get Consumer Data - having the ability to get immediate feedback about products and services is extremely valuable to businesses. This feedback can also be associated with opt-in demographics information such as location, gender, age, purchasing history, etc.
- Expanding the Power of Micropayments - Many companies are beta testing a type of “alternative currency” using microblog messages that can be used to pay for purchases less that $25. These would be encrypted messages or secure 2D barcodes which are scanned by a soda machine or a retailer to deduct money from a prepaid account. This system might be of interest to the 20 to 30 million people in USA (over the age of 15) who do not have a credit card or bank account. And… listen to this… a formal bank study estimates that there are 20 to 30 million people without credit cards or bank accounts who earn more than 500 billion dollars annually and put it under their mattresses ! Now that sounds like an opportunity to give them a simple and secure way to carry and use cash ! mmm….
Click here to read the full TIME article.
