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Monthly Archives: February 2012
Twitter’s Geographic Boundaries
The exciting aspect of social media is it opens the door for participants to make connections outside their geographic reach and focus on common interests (being a mom, running, cooking, etc.). However, a recent article “Geography of Twitter” by Barry Wellman, Yuri Tahkteyev and Anatoliy Gruzd published in Social Networks (Jan. 2012) proves there are more geographic boundaries than we initially thought with Twitter. In fact, the article proves through Twitter research that social media connections look more like an airline hub map.
Wellman, Tahkteyev and Gruzd analyzed half a million tweets to determine where people are tweeting from and who is following them. They discovered a lot of people have local Twitter ties mostly because people are interested in their local communities. Furthermore, Twitter connections are very much the same as the connections we have in the “real” world.
Airline connections already prove there is commonality between two cities, for example: trade connections, professional connections, entertainment connections, etc. And people on Twitter are more likely to follow others who are just a plane ride away from them because of those commonalities.
“Los Angeles is more likely to be connected to Toronto than St. Louis. And my apologies to St. Louis, but Torontonians rarely go to there. Tweets – to use the Twitter term – are more likely to be connected to each other between those localities than not,” said Wellman in a recent interview with NPR Morning Edition.
If we apply Wellman’s, Tahkteyev and Gruzd thought process – that “real” world and “social” world connections are the same – to marketing, it is highly likely the same consumers brands are connecting with through traditional advertising and marketing campaigns, are the same people brands are connecting with on social media.
Do You Really Understand What is Most Important to Your Customers? And Do You Deliver It?
Say what you want about Walmart, they know their customers and they know how to service them with excellence. As Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, authors of Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business explain, Walmart customers want lots of product variety and really low prices. These are the things that are most important to them. Conversely, Walmart does not waste much energy on the things their customers want the least, including personal service and quality lighting and a comfortable, inviting environment.
On the flipside, Frei and Morriss point out how amazingly successful the airline industry as a whole has been at completely missing the boat (pun intended) on the delivery of quality customer service. They are like the USPS of air travel, with one simple directive: Just deliver the package! But they can’t do it. They arrive late, they depart late, they lose luggage, and they treat you like a family burden. In fact, according to Frei and Morriss, only two airlines seem to get it – Southwest and Virgin – and coincidentally they are the only two profitable airlines in the industry.
So, ask yourself right now, what is most important to your customers? And what is least important to them? And how are you delivering on both ends? It may seem counterintuitive or paradoxical, but it is essential to excel at delivering what your customers want most and to fail at delivering what they want least.
And it all begins by knowing who your customers are and what is most important (and least important) to them. Which also means you need to conduct research, and you must be open to the possibility of completely changing your mindset and quite possibly your entire approach to customer service… and maybe even your business model.
But in the words of Steve Jobs, to be successful, you must be willing to think different and if necessary, cannibalize your own business with better products and services – the ones your customers want the most.
February… For a Short Month, You Squeeze a Lot In. Thanks.
February is a lot of things. It is the second and shortest month of the year…. sometimes with 29 days, but mostly with 28. In leap years, it is the only month that begins and ends on the same day of the week.
In the United States (and Canada) it is Black History Month. It is also National Bird-Feeding Month. Go figure. And there are some cool days as well.
February 2 is Groundhog Day. The first Sunday of February is the Super Bowl. February 11 is Lincoln’s Birthday, and the third Monday of the month is President’s Day (banks will be closed). George Washington’s Birthday is the 22nd.
February 14 of course is Valentine’s Day (guys, don’t forget this). And February 29 is Leap Day; Tigger will be thrilled.
It appears that February was the last month to be added to the Roman calendar back in 713 B.C. (previously the Romans considered winter to be a “monthless” period). Anyway, for the next 250 years it was the last month of the year. Then it became the second month, and at times it had as few as 23 days in it. Eventually, between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, they worked out the kinks.
February even has its own poem:
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone
Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.
But perhaps most intriguing to me is that today (February 9… the day after my son’s birthday) is National Toothache Day. In reverence for this important occasion, I ask everyone to stop what they are doing at 2:30 for a moment of silence.
Is It Possible the World Already Ended and We Just Don’t Know It?
Maybe I am just suffering from overload… I’m sure there’s a syndrome, a drug and an app for that.
But lately I’ve been feeling a little like Charlie from the first season of LOST, who notably asked his island pals, “Guys, where are we?” After watching more than a few of the Republican debates and listening to the occasional Coast-to-Coast radio broadcast in between viewing new TV shows like Alien Storage Pickers of Atlanta and catching the endless hype over the SuperBowl, the Academy Awards and whatever other “celebrity” news is out there, my head is about to explode.
That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn’t coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it’ll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right – right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright
light, feeling pretty psyched.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.
Six o’clock – TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear – cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.
The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount St. Edelite.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine…fine…
Car Manufacturers Battle it Out in 2012 Online Super Bowl Ads
Car manufacturers are not waiting for the big game anymore to share their Super Bowl commercials. But being able to track the interest on YouTube is proving to be a game in and of its self.
So who is winning?
Right now Volkswagen’s The Bark Side teaser is leading with 10.8 million views on YouTube. But keep in mind this was launched on January 18.
Volkswagen’s Beetle commercial The Dog Strikes Back falls short with only 1.1 million views. The video was posted on YouTube on January 30.
Honda’s CR-V commercial with Matthew Broderick is a big hit with 8.3 million views. It launched January 26 on YouTube.
Accura isn’t far behind with 7.4 million views for its NSX commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld & Jay Leno, which was launched January 30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUFSHzT2xuY
The bottom line is while Volkswagen really made a big splash with its The Bark Side teaser, its actual commercial has fallen short on delivering something entertaining – although the dog is cute and the commercial did make me laugh.
The celebrity power is helping Honda and Accura move to the top. Given we still have 3 days until the big game, its highly likely Honda or Accura will win the battle.
