This Social Media Cheat Sheet from Flowtown shows just how much there is to consider:

There's a lot to look at there. The one thing I want to point out from this infographic is the audience sizes. 800 million active users on Facebook. 100 million active users on Twitter. These platforms are growing. 

Don't let fear of the unknown prevent you from taking your small business to new levels. Contact me and I'll help you get all the places you can go. 

I love the gators in Pearls Before Swine :)

Ken Williams is the cousin of one of my life-long best friends. He and I have been Facebook friends for years, but we don't interact that much. I saw a flurry of activity recently as he and his wife were desperately trying to close on their new home. Bank of America was taking their sweet time and weeks and months were passing with no luck for these qualified buyers. Feeling helpless and frustrated, Ken and his wife took to social media to try to get their problem solved.

Step 1: Blog it.

Ken and Meredith created a blog explaining what their issue was and what they needed. They even created an amazing timeline explaining exactly what had happened with Bank of America and how they got to this point. One of the biggest problems is that several of the Bank of America employees that were working on their file quit the company, leaving their loan paperwork in the abyss of a mega-bank.

Step 2: Get Creative

The most genius thing the Williams' did was to create a YouTube video. While Ken could've ranted and raved and cursed and yelled empty threats, he decided to be funny.

Let me tell you why this is awesome: It's funny. It's short. It gets the message across. It lets Bank of America know how to contact them. And it's shareable. People think it's funny and want to pass it along to others.

Step 3: Ask Your Network to Help

The Williams asked their Facebook friends (this is how I heard about it) and Twitter followers to share this video and tweet to Bank of America on their behalf. Their friends did it. And Bank of America heard it.

The Result: PROBLEM SOLVED

The Williams posted their video and blog on a Sunday. Bank of America contacted the couple on Monday morning. News stations across the country picked up the story and put them on television. They were on the front page of ABC News online. They were mentioned in the Daily Telegraph in the UK. They were contacted by Diane Sawyer's people. Due to their persistence, creativity, and detailed timeline, they were notified that their loan had been expedited by the office of the CEO and they were able to close on their new home by Friday. Keys in hand, call the moving trucks... they're in their new home. Just like that.

Social Media isn't just a time waster. It's a VERY helpful tool

For starters, quit trying to sell to people. They've heard it all. Sadly, unless you're selling an iPad for $25, people aren't going to be all that impressed with your 15% off sale. As we enter this holiday shopping season, here are a few tips for social media usage for your small business:

1. Be helpful. Give your customers information that they would find helpful, educational, or informative. Become a source of information for them that isn't necessarily always directing people to purchase something from you.
2. Don't think of your social media efforts as something you would write on a sandwich board and stand on a street corner with. Think of it more along the lines of having coffee with a friend. It's organic, it's natural, and it's not aggressive. 
3. Show photos of your products/services. Photos are much more likely to be seen amongst all the social media noise.
4. Get in the spirit! Have you decorated your shop? Hung lights on the cash register? Have stockings for every employee? Put up a picture! People love to see businesses show their fun side. 

I have more creative ways to communicate your message to a wider audience. Got questions? Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com. 

People want to be informed. They want to be educated. They want to be in the know. But they don't want to be bored. 

Creativity is key. I feel like I need to stitch that on a pillow. Be CREATIVE.

Fox Small Business recently wrote an article about how to write a killer "About Me" section. You come across it all the time on social media profiles or on your website. The "About Me" or "About Us" section needs to be effective and informative without making people fall asleep. This is your chance to tell people who you, what you do, and give these people a small idea of what kind of company you are and how you do business. 

The best part of the article, in my opinion, is below:

"The bottom line for any good “About” page is to show off your talents and prove that you are the answer to their problems. Depending on what business you are in, the tone of this page can run the gamut from personal, funny, and anecdotal to one with a more formal and factual tone. With that said, all “About” pages should answer these questions:

Who are you?

What do you do?

How do your skills and experiences validate your particular expertise?

Who are your clients?

What are your clients’ (aka visitors’) problems or needs?

How does your expertise align with their needs?

What particular value do you provide?

How can you be contacted?"

Source: Fox Small Business

To be honest, not everyone is a wordsmith and can get their point across in a way that is fun and different from the rest. I love creative writing almost more than I love carbohydrates (I said ALMOST) and it comes naturally to me. I have clients that will send me a paragraph and say "This is what I want to say. Please make it funny." 

Don't kill yourself trying to come up with creative sentences. Symphony Social Media offers profile set-up and management. For some people, setting up profiles is fun! (I'm getting dorkier by the minute.)

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

More and more people are voicing their opinions, both good and bad, on social media platforms. Many companies are feeling the need to make sure they have people on their team that are trained in social media. These people may have several different roles:

• The Listener: These people are there to "listen" to what people are saying about them online and then passing along the information to corporate. If McDonald's launches a new sandwich, the listeners are there to hear what people are saying, both good and bad, and report it back to the head honchos. 
• The Moderator: The moderator is there to be present on the social media profiles and moderate conversations. You want to allow people to speak and voice their opinions, but if something starts to get ugly or inappropriate, the moderator is there to keep everything in check. 
• The Reputation Manager: This is the person that takes action. When my friend was in the chain store and tweeted something that she observed, the reputation manager replied to her and then contacted the location she was in and advised them to fix the problem. 

One place we are seeing a major increase in this is with the airlines. This infographic spells it out pretty well:

When people are sitting in a terminal and can't get through to anyone at the desks, they're taking their chances by tweeting to the airline. Many people are getting responses and having their problems solved. 

And then there's always the Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told where a man tweeted that he wished Morton's Steakhouse would have a steak waiting for him when he landed at Newark... and they did it. 

Symphony Social Media wants to be your listener, your moderator and your reputation manager. Don't underestimate the power of exceptional customer service!  

That video is full of awesomeness. Let's recap a few of my favorite points:

• "We don't have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it." -Erik Qualman
• A new member joins LinkedIn every second.
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
• Kindergarteners are learning on iPads, not chalkboards.

Are you using social media to market your business?

I'm going to give you some unwarranted advice: BE. NORMAL.

What do I mean?

• Be conversational! Social media is different than any other outlet you have as a company. People are SOCIAL on social media. You're not talking to them through the radio or a TV screen. Say things that sound like a human would say them!
• Don't be "sales-y". People see straight through that and the more you are trying to sell to people, the quicker they are going to remove you from their newsfeed. 
• Don't be scared. Act like you're talking to a friend in person. Make it one-on-one. The more "normal" you sound, the more people are going to be willing to engage with you.

Let me give you a few examples.

This is the wrong way:

"SALE THIS SATURDAY! TAKE 40% OFF THIS SATURDAY ONLY ON ALL MARKED ITEMS"

This is the right way:

"We hope to see you Saturday! We'll be having a sale all day.... a whole 40% off! Come on in and we'll show you which ones you can get with the discount. Bring a friend. We love meeting new people! :) "

Wrong way:

"We have NEW models in our showroom with a price that CAN'T BE BEAT. GET here TODAY!"

Right way:

"Lots of pretty, shiny things just rolled into our store! Come see all our new products... we're proud of them! (And we're pretty gosh darn proud of the price, too!) 

See the difference?

Just sound normal.

Cause we're all totally normal, right? 

:)

In order to do this, they built their own social media platform. From the article:

"The School wants the kids to learn about “the quandaries of digital life,” says Buckley, such as “invisible audiences,” “the permanence and persistence” of things put online, and the ease with which things can be copied and pasted and appear elsewhere. A recent poll shows that these are things the majority of young people simply haven’t thought about. But the school doesn’t want the students learning these lessons “out in the wild” — on Facebook, for example — where the students would leave permanent evidence on the Web that could haunt them for the rest of their lives." 

I truly believe that we are going to see more and more of this, perhaps even in the public schools. Kids in this society don't really understand just how big these social networks are and how once you put something out on the internet, it pretty much lives forever. With cyber-bullying, posting inappropriate photos, and other things that you wish you could take back, it's great to teach kids what they are doing before the embarrass themselves for years to come. 

Check out the article (linked above) for more details. Interested in some social media training for yourself or your students? Check out our services page. Symphony Social Media offers seminars to groups for consulting and training! 

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com. 

This is my answer: Because that is where your customers are, and beyond that, if people have the ability to discuss you and your services online then you need to be there as well. 

What if people are discussing your customer service? What if people are talking about one of your employees? What if someone is giving a fantastic review about you that you never see? What if someone is telling one of their friends about how they like your business a lot but they wish your prices were just a little lower? What if they said "We can't speak highly enough of them but that one guy in the office gives me the creeps so watch out for him!"

Wouldn't you want to know? Wouldn't you want to be there to hear these things so that you can learn from them and implement changes if necessary? Don't you want customers and clients, both current and potential, to be able to find you online in the places they already frequent? Do you want to be visible? Relevant? 

I know, I know. You hate Facebook. You don't get Twitter. And you don't have time to write blogs. 

Did you know that I can do all of that for you?

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

LinkedIn just made this Social Media Manager very happy. Why? They solved a problem.

Here was the issue:

You could easily network with people on LinkedIn. Another thing people could do was post status updates- similarly to how you would post a status update on Facebook. Of course, the status updates on LinkedIn are more along the lines of the current state of the stock market rather than how you feel about Project Runway, but you get my point! However, one feature that Facebook had that LinkedIn didn't was the ability for a BUSINESS to post status updates.

Updates had to come from an individual. Is your company moving offices? Have you added a new employee? Launching a new product? All of these kinds of status updates had to come from individual employees rather than an official announcement from the company itself.

Last week? All this changed. LinkedIn now allows companies to post updates.

This allows you to use LinkedIn as an individual for networking and connecting rather than being your company's public service announcer. 

How does this affect the everyday LinkedIn user? You'll probably be asked to start "following" companies so that you will see their updates. And you should. Let's get the most we can out of these social media platforms. 

Got questions? Email me. jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

This article from The Examiner in Chicago lays out exactly what is coming. In short, Facebook really wants its businesses to take advantage of the advertising space it provides and will even offer a credit to give your business a jumpstart. Unfortunately, the ease of how things were done before has gone out the window. You can continue how you have been, but the chances of anyone seeing what you've posted are slim.

This will make things a little more complicated:

"Businesses that hire a dedicated marketer to manage the campaign, stay ahead of the changes and adapt the business’ marketing strategy where necessary will come out ahead.  Getting content to the News Feeds with the changes will require a bit more thought.  And, unfortunately, Businesses will have to pay for some services on Facebook in order to stay really competitive and viewable on the site."

Is your business prepared for what's coming? Will you know how to make sure you are visible and frequently appearing the news feeds of your fans- both current and potential?

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

.... and then it just sits there.

When I'm browsing online and I come across a Facebook page or a Twitter account that has not posted an update since February of 2009, it doesn't leave a good impression with me. 

Here's why you must keep your accounts frequently updated:

People might think you went out of business.

If it's been over a year since you've updated, it's the same idea as if you didn't mow the grass outside of your office building for a year. It looks abandoned. Your social media profiles are your online store-fronts. If the light bulbs in your office sign burnt out, you'd fix them. You'll mow the grass regularly. Have that same mind-set when it comes to your online profiles.

You need to be relevant.

Have you had the same haircut for twenty years? Perhaps your haircut was the hottest haircut in 1991, but obviously that doesn't translate to today. Are you current? Your Facebook page and your Twitter profile need to be in the year 2011.  If your Facebook page is actually a Facebook group (because that's how they were set up 4 years ago) and if your current status is congratulating Barack Obama on his Democratic nomination, then you're a few years behind the times. You don't seem relevant or "with it." Find out what's going on. 

If there is nothing on your page that interests me, I won't spend anytime there.

Sad, but true. Make sure that you're saying something that people will want to read. One of my major philosophies is that if you're only saying things that make sense to your employees and your competitors, you're missing the mark. 

Have questions? Email me. jen@symphonysocialmedia.com 

My favorite stats:

• 43% say their Facebook page generates more traffic than their website
• 17.5% of those without Facebook pages think their customers are not on Facebook. (FYI, they are wrong)
• 47% of those with a Facebook page say that they see a significant amount of traffic to their website from their Facebook page. 

Source: Pagemodo

Do you know of a company that needs to have a Facebook page? 

Yes, that would include Facebook and Twitter. Yes, that would include LinkedIn and YouTube. Yes, that would include blogs and photo sharing sites.

But think about all the places that you as a user can add or create content.

Amazon comments.

Yelp ratings.

CitySearch.

Discussion Boards and forums.

All of these are places where people are interacting with one another by saying what they want to say, whether bad or good. Are they saying something nice about your organization? Are they giving a raving review? Are they saying something hurtful?

If you're a restaurant owner and someone on City Search is bashing you till the sun don't shine... then perhaps you need to be monitoring City Search. 

Think bigger. 

YOU NEED A PROPER WEBSITE.

Proper isn't necessarily in the eye of the beholder. You may think your site is good enough, but you may need to ask for some second opinions on that. 

When I started Symphony, I used my limited funds to create my own website. Keep in mind, I may be a social media maven, but I am most certainly not a web designer. Still, I did what I could. And that's understandable. Web design can be costly. 

However, if there is anything in this day and age that is worth spending some money on, it's a proper web design. While social media profiles make you relevant, I would say that your website makes you legit. 

Aside from the obvious issue of a good first impression, a fantastic website designed by a team of professionals can actually work FOR you. Yep, that's right. Using SEO techniques, people who know what they are doing can help make you more visible in search engines. 

So, once I got up and running, I turned to the geniuses over at Immerseme and asked them to make me a real, live, grown-up website. Let me tell you just some of the many reasons I love Immerseme:

1. They work fast and they are responsive.

2. They are fun (and funny!) people to work with. I truly enjoyed the process.

3. They do graphic design and branding. Yep, they're creative people. 

4. Their SEO skills are top-notch. I'm telling you, they are a bunch of Smarty Pants! 

5. They even do newsletter design to match your webpage!

6. Price wise they are more than reasonable for all that you get.

7. They don't talk to you like you're stupid. They break everything down for you so you understand what they are doing and why.

8. You have a whole team working for you, each person with a different skill set and expertise.

9. They are honest, ethical people.  

I could go on and on. They are a fantastic company that can help you too! Let me know if you'd like for me to put you in touch with them. I'll tell you all you need to know! Email me! jen@symphonysocialmedia.com. 

THANK YOU Immerseme Team!!!

It really is a social networking site, similar to Facebook, but with a strong emphasis on careers and networking. Can you find jobs on LinkedIn? Yes. Is that the sole purpose of LinkedIn? No. 

The Numbers

Before we get into the reasons why you (and your company) should be on LinkedIn, let's spend a minute on statistics. In April of this year, LinkedIn unveiled their most recent statistics based on a Nielsen survey. Here are some of the highlights:

• There are 44 million LinkedIn users in the United States
• There are 56 million LinkedIn users outside the United States
• More than 80% of LinkedIn members influence business decisions at their company
• 3.2 million of the members are VP's and/or CXO's

What I'm getting at is this: There are a lot of people on LinkedIn, and there are a lot of important people on LinkedIn.  (Source: LinkedIn Marketing Solutions)

The Network

The beauty of LinkedIn is truly in the infrastructure and what you can do with it. Yes, you can connect with your colleagues and friends. But, you can also network with potential customers or a decision maker at a company you've always dreamed of working for. You build your profile which greatly differs from a Facebook profile. Here, you're listing where you've worked and what you're good at. One of the greatest features on the LinkedIn profile is the ability for people to recommend you. A previous client or employer can write something fantastic about you and put it on your profile. That comes in handy when you're trying to close a deal and the potential client looks you up on LinkedIn to read that another former client says that you are "honest, responsive, and a pleasure to work with."

Another great thing about LinkedIn? The groups. Again, these are different from the "I Hate the Swiffer Commercials!" group you would find on Facebook. These are groups such as"Houston Area IT Professionals.""Aggie Business Owners." "Texas Young Professionals.""Dallas Chamber of Commerce.""Contract Litigation Attorneys." 

So what's the perk of joining groups like this? It gives you a place to ask questions and to answer questions. You can ask questions to other professionals in your industry that may be able to shed some light on a problem you're having that they may have run into in the past. You can answer questions and let people know who you are and what you do. If you're a CPA in the "Aggie Business Owners" group, and another group member asks "Does anyone know when quarterly taxes are due?", you're going to be the one to answer the question. Chances are, she has more questions beyond the due dates for quarterly taxes. 

The nice thing about you answering the question is that it has your picture, your name, your title, and your company all right there for that group member to click on. Now she knows that you're possibly someone that could help her and, heck, you're an Aggie, so she knows she can trust you! 

And, of course, LinkedIn is a good place to find a job or find a great candidate for a job opening. You have everyone's resume at your fingertips. You can also see mutual connections. Meaning, if you're interested in hiring a guy and see that your friend Bob is a mutual connection, you can click and see that Bob worked with this guy for 3 years at another CPA firm in Dallas. Now you can call your friend Bob and get the scoop and learn if this kid is worth the interview. 

What About My Company?

It's always a good idea to have a company profile page on LinkedIn. That way, when you answer a question, and someone wants to know who you work for, they can click and read about your company and how great you are. They can see all your services, how long you've been in business, and see who else is "following" your company. They can also see names and photos of those that are currently employed by your company. People love to see what they're getting themselves into before they pull the trigger. The more people can see and learn about you, the more likely they are to make contact if they like what they see.

A Few Tips

• Fill out your profile as completely as possible, both your personal profile and your company's profile. LinkedIn uses a pretty intricate search engine that will allow people to find you based on what you entered into your profile. If they type in Houston CPA, your company will come up in a list to choose from if you have those search terms in the body of your profile.
• When it comes to your picture, keep it classy. It doesn't have to be a picture of you in a suit, but remember that potential employers or potential customers could see this and will use this photo as a first impression. You want to appear put-together, professional, and work appropriate.
• Stay involved in the groups. Don't create a LinkedIn profile and then let it collect dust. Become a resource for people.
• Let me know how I can help! I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn and help several of my clients stay involved in the groups so they can focus on doing their real job :)

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com 

He has set up Facebook pages for his classes, as well as a Facebook fan page and Twitter account for the soccer team he coaches.

Another shocker? Kids are allowed to use cell phones while at school. They can talk on the phone while in the hallways and while at lunch, and text themselves happy. The only rule is that during times of instruction, the phone has to be off entirely.

This is unbelievable to me. I don’t necessarily disagree as I’m sure they’ve realized that they can’t keep these teenagers from bringing their phone to school, but I’m just imagining these kids walking through the halls while talking on their phones and sitting in the cafeteria silently texting 20 texts a minute.

When I was in high school, our GIANT cell phones (if we had one, most kids didn’t) had to be left in your cars and if you were caught with it in the school, it was confiscated and you couldn’t get it back. Ever.

I do have teacher-friends that say things on Facebook like “be sure to bring your scan-tron and a number two pencil tomorrow!”. Who knows what kind of teacher-student-technology relationship my own kids will experience!

Can you imagine our world ten years ago with all the social media channels we have today? I read this really thought-provoking article regarding 9/11 and what it would have been like had the world had Twitter on that horrible day. Click here to read the article from Social Media Today.

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend full of fun and rest! Believe it or not, I'm glad to be back to business this morning. I guess that is one of the perks of loving my job as much as I do!

I've got a few afternoon meetings to prepare for, but I wanted to drop in and let you know about a book I'm reading:

 I love it because it's

A) about social media and

B) about doing something GOOD with social media.

I'm only 60 pages in but I highly recommend it.

What are you reading?

This particular infographic from Search Engine Journal reveals some pretty amazing stats regarding all of our favorite social media channels. Take a look:

From 2010 to 2011, users accessing social media channels from their mobile device has increased 200%. Thankfully, the powers that be are paying attention as they have all optimized these social networks to be functional from the mobile device. I remember waaaaaay back in the day when I had a sad little browser on my sad little phone and I would try to log in to Facebook and it was all just a little bit infuriating.

Is your company, business, or organization's website optimized for a mobile phone? What I mean by that is, the way something looks on your computer will look differently from your iPhone or Android. The mobile user is looking at your website on a very small, narrow screen when it was meant to be viewed on a bigger, wider screen.

Believe it or not, this matters. People are accessing your website when they are away from their desks. Are you making it as simple as possible for them?

email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

Alas, I am just a humble Facebook user and manager, and have no say in the corporate decisions.

Alright, let's break it down:

Our Facebook photos are about to get jazzed up. Apparently, Facebook wanted to buy Instagram. Apparently, that failed. However, they are releasing a photo filter of their own so that we can make our photos better and more interesting from our mobile phones when we post them to Facebook.

Remember earlier this summer when Google+ came out and the line was drawn in the sand between Facebook and Google+? It seems that Facebook is trying to up their game. One of the biggest advantages that Google+ has is the ability to post status updates to different circles. When you post something to Facebook, all your friends see it. When you post something to Google+, you get to choose who gets to see it and who doesn't. Well, in a shocking turn of events, Facebook is making changes so you can do that there, too! Facebook is claiming that their decision has nothing to do with the features of Google+, but we can choose to believe that or not believe that. Click on the article to learn more about the new privacy features. I think this is a major upgrade for Facebook and I'm just wondering why this is just now happening.

Lastly, it seems that someone has finally made the decision to get rid of the Facebook Places check in feed, which to be quite honest, I always found a bit creepy. I never used it as I never really wanted people to know what restaurant I was eating at at any given moment.

In my opinion, here's what needs to happen next: Facebook Groups, Facebook Pages, Facebook Places: They are confusing and difficult to manage. With the amount of brands, businesses, companies and organizations on Facebook, they've got to make this more user friendly. I don't know if that means doing away with some, consolidating some, or doing an overhaul.... but something's gotta give.

Are there any major changes in Facebook that you'd like to see?

Got questions? Email me at jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

Will you take great strides?

Will you put forth effort?

The way I see it, Morton's Steakhouse has epitomized what I believe is the next generation of customer service.

Click here for the unbelievable story. 

Twitter has rolled out a whole bunch of new things this week. Aside from clarifying that the twitter bird is male and has a name, we also can now tweet with pictures right there in Twitter, you don't have to go to a third party site!

Speaking of Twitter... I've learned when speaking with clients that Twitter is the one thing they don't "get". Believe me, it only appears complicated.

That being said, I have a few questions for YOU:

1. Are you on Twitter? (if so, what's your username?!? Let's be friends!)

2. If you are NOT on Twitter, why not?

3. Do you have any questions about Twitter? There are no stupid questions!

Confession: As much as I am a social media junkie, I was VERY late to the Twitter party. Much like you, it intimidated me and I was not quite sure what I was doing. But let me tell you, once I figured it out (it took me all of 4 minutes) it was like a whole new world. Facebook is a social network, but I see Twitter as a social tool. It is entirely, 100% different from Facebook and has its own universe. Don't be scared. I can help you!

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

1. Have you felt like Facebook has been acting wonky lately? You're not alone! Check out this article from All Facebook.

2. This article from Search Engine Watch discusses the crucial role that Social Media played during the UK riots.

3. Do you work from home? Are you trying to launch a small business from your house, but not quite sure how to really attack it head-on without a major corporation behind you? I love these tips from Search Engine Journal!

4. I'm sorry, this has nothing to do with anything, but I think this video is HILARIOUS.

5. We all have some room for improvement, but we expect more from Facebook!

TOMORROW is FRIDAY! :)

jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

Many of you may not realize this, but your Facebook News Feed is VERY filtered. Facebook tries to be super smart and decide what it thinks you want to see and what it thinks you don't care about. The people who you interact with the most, the fan pages that have you clicking the "like" button frequently.... these are the pages that you see.

Now, you do have the power to control this. What most people don't know, is that if you scroll waaaaaay down to the bottom of your News Feed, you can click around in there and turn off the filters. However, like I said, most people don't know about this filter and don't realize that they're only getting a very small percentage of what people are sayiing in their news feed.

As a Social Media Manager, I have always felt that these filters shouldn't be in place. My reason is simple: You can't guarantee that everyone that has "liked" your fan page will see what you are posting.

It's a problem. Business owners and social media managers are putting time, effort, and creativity into these status updates that you can't guarantee are going to be seen by everyone. This is especially an issue with those people that liked your page quite some time ago and haven't been back in awhile.

So, the article suggests that soon these filters might become a thing of the past. I vote "yes" to that, and am interested to see what other interactive features that our dear friends at Facebook might have come up with!

Email me! jen@symphonysocialmedia.com.

For example, an article I read on this topic citing a recent study done by sociologists regarding relationships stated that

"..... since 1985, Americans have become much more socially isolated and have fewer connections with their neighbors and communities, which led the researchers to speculate that one cause may be the dramatic rise in Internet usage and mobile devices over the last twenty years." Source: Psychology Today

 

The idea is that we're with each other in BODY but not in MIND. We're sitting next to each other, but we're all just looking at our screens rather than one another.

Honestly, I agree. You can't deny that in some cases, social media (or, on a broader scale, the internet in general)  can be harmful to our existing face-to-face relationships. The statistics about marital affairs that begin on Facebook are staggering, disheartening, and disgusting, to be frank.

However, here is what we have to remember: the PEOPLE are the problem. Not the social media platforms.

Think back several decades ago when the world was introduced to televisions in our living rooms. We saw the birth of the couch potato and we now live in a world where most homes have a television in every room of their house. We need to keep in mind though that television in itself is not inherently evil. Sadly, we are a society that lacks discipline and we take a little goodness and go way too far with it.

We need to adjust our habits. The internet can not be your social life.

What I tell people is this: Social Media is not going anywhere. The Internet is not going anywhere. It's here to stay and we need to just buck up and realize that this is the way things are going now. To keep ourselves and our relationships healthy, we need to make adjustments to our habits and lifestyle.

From a business perspective, it's the same thing. It is unacceptable to say "Well, we're not going to use social media for our business because I don't like social media because it is harmful".

You can't avoid it. You have to use it. You just have to use it properly. 

Social media is not evil. It's a necessity. We just have to find our balance.

Thoughts? Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

Hope this explains a few things. Have you found me on Google+ yet? Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com 

50% of Americans are on Facebook, while only 37% of American have a passport.

So what does this say about us? Is America just so awesome that we don't really have a reason to leave?

In other news, last night President Obama asked us to take to social media to speak to our congressmen and women regarding the debt crisis. It reminded me of this comic:

:)

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

However, DO NOT underestimate the power that your social media profiles have to facilitate your existing clients in an online community.

This is a new way to communicate. Your website is a place that your clients can go to learn more information about your business. Your social media profiles are a place where your clients can go to communicate back with you... and with one another.

Let your Facebook page be a place for your clients and customers to share their experiences with you and with one another. And don't be afraid of something negative. If a customer shares a less-than-positive experience on your Facebook page, use it as an opportunity to show everyone your higher-than-average customer service and on-the-ball responsiveness.

Your customer will feel like they matter. Connect with them. Communicate with them. Your online community will grow!

Got questions? Email me at jen@symphonysocialmedia.com

Something that should have taken 30 seconds took almost half an hour. Even just getting off the phone took way too long.

"Okay, Ma'am, is there anything else I can be helping you with today?"

"No, thanks, that will be it."

"Alright. Have I sufficiently met all of your needs today?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Thank you for calling Customer Service. We do sincerely hope that your needs were met. At the end of this call, you will be directed to a survey to rate your customer service experience today. Are you willing to participate in this survey?"

"I actually don't have time to right now. That will be all, thank you for your help."

"Alright, ma'am. Would you be willing to participate in a survey at a later date?"

OH MY GOSH. STOP TALKING. I didn't say that. But I sure wanted to.

Sometimes I just want to ask my question or get a problem solved without all the formalities. And I'm not the only one.

Internet users are turning to social media to communicate with companies. Whether it's a simple "I waited at your restaurant for 30 minutes and no one ever came to my table" or even "I live in downtown Houston and my cable is out. Is this just me?", social media is a simpler, more convenient way to communicate with businesses.

And believe me, they'll respond. If you write a question, suggestion, or opinion on their wall, even if it's negative, someone will respond.

"We are so sorry to hear that you had a less-than-satisfactory experience. We'd love to offer you a $20 gift certificate to give us a second chance!"

"Yes, there is widespread outages in downtown Houston due to the storm. So sorry for any inconvenience, and we'll try to get it back up and running as soon as possible!"

Even better, when they write something GOOD about you, you can share that with the rest of your followers. There's nothing better than a public pat-on-the-back from a satisfied customer!

Michael Dell is even tossing the idea around of using Google+ "Hangouts" as a customer service tool! See the article here: Dell Customer Service- Google+ Hangouts

Not only is using social media as a customer service tool a more convenient option for your customers, it also can be more convenient for you.

Email me: jen@symphonysocialmedia.com