The Conversation Manager

Monthly Archives: May 2011

• What other brand can do what Club Bruges is doing?

  by Steven Van Belleghemon May 31, 2011in the categories Branding

  When I received a letter from Club Bruges to renew my season ticket, I noticed the price for my seat had gone up by 10%. I was startled to see that there was a price increase of 40% for some seats and that certain stands were only available to VIPs. The initial reaction from the fans indicates not everyone is happy about this.

  The club claimed the price increase was simply an economic necessity. If Club Bruges wishes to ‘remain’ a top club, the budget must go up. So who is footing the bill? The brand’s most loyal fans.

  Tags: Brand fans, Club Bruges, club brugge, Coca-Cola, history, loyal fans, Loyalty Read more »

• Proactive versus reactive conversation management

  by Polle de Maagton May 31, 2011in the categories Conversations

  How to engage in conversations? How are we managing consumer expectations as soon as we’re start answering questions on social media? Many companies just do social media campaigns and fail to have a follow up on their social media efforts. In other words: they do a great campaign to attract people to their Facebook fanpage, but fail to answer the questions and solve the problems of this new crowd. In a conversation era, there is no marketing without service.

  On top of that, there’s the dilemma of managing expectations: many don’t wan’t to open ‘the floodgates’ on consumers reacting on their online efforts, just because they have the perception (or self-knowledge) that they won’t be able to handle that. They adopt a more reactive approach on what’s happening online, maybe to, someday, change into a more proactive conversations company.

  That’s why we usually plot conversations efforts on proactive versus reactive axes and service versus marketing axes.

  Tags: Conversation management, managing expectations, marketing, proactive, reactive, service Read more »

• I am a fan of fans

  by Martijn van Kesterenon May 30, 2011in the categories Activation, Skills

  Connecting with fans of your brand or company is really amazing. Whether you engage with them via your Facebook fanpage, get in a dialogue via twitter or invite fans over to your office – it is really inspiring to interact with them on a regular basis. I am a true fan of fans.

  Tags: Brand fans, fans, rijn vogelaar, superpromotor, yunomi Read more »

• Why social media are not like health club memberships

  by Nawaz Kazmion May 30, 2011in the categories Branding

  

  And why social media are more like restaurants

  As I mentioned in my last post “Why being nice to your customers is not enough”, I visited a trendsetting Italian restaurant near Leiden the other day. The restaurant was great; however it didn’t embrace social media yet. So I had a chat with the owner and told him how I could help him exploit the online opportunities. Then he explained me how he thought about it:

  “Social media marketing is like sports, you have to make a start before you get into your rhythm. The first step is to sign a contract at a health club, for instance. But that’s not enough. You need to take action. Then slowly, you will turn it into a habit. And then you turn into an aficionada and may find yourself going there every single day.”

  Tags: branding, restaurants, Social Media Read more »

• Don’t worry about having too many tweets to deal with.

  by Steven Van Belleghemon May 27, 2011in the categories Conversations, Social Web
  

  One of the major excuses for brands to avoid participation on Twitter is their fear of having too much additional work. “We won’t be able to deal with the enormous flow of tweets and feedback from clients”, is what I hear a few times a week.

  For some major brands, this is probably true. That’s why companies like Dell, Gatorade, Delta Airlines, Best Buy and many other global brands are re-organizing their service and communication department. Without this structural change, they wouldn’t be able to handle all the interactions with consumers.

  Tags: dell, Delta Airlines, engagement, gatorade, interaction, Twitter Read more »

• Your brand killed like Osama?

  by Cato Leonardon May 27, 2011in the categories Conversations, Skills
  

  Osama bin Laden was killed, taken by surprise, although a neighbour was reporting live what was going on, using Twitter. If only Al Qaeda had cared about its leader as you care about your brand, they would have taken social media more seriously. Social media could have been their eyes and ears in picking up the news that an attack on Osama was imminent. Not unlike you picking up trends through Twitter and Facebook monitoring, Al Qaeda could have picked up helicopters were leaving their base. They could have known that American choppers were flying in their direction. They could have initiated terrorist responses even before bin Laden was attacked. Luckily they did not monitor social media. 

  Tags: Conversations, monitoring, osama, Social Media Read more »

• The History of Advertising on Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]

  by Dado Van Peteghemon May 27, 2011in the categories Social Web

  

  Tags: Advertising, mashable, Twitter Read more »

• Join the Ultimate Twitter Study

  by Hanne Geuenson May 26, 2011in the categories Activation, Conversations, Social Web

  It’s been said a thousand times: Twitter is big business nowadays. Mariah Carey got her fans to guess the names of her newborn twins on Twitter, the death of Osama Bin Laden was announced on Twitter ahead of traditional news channels and the royal family decided to block every internet connection in Westminster Abbey to prevent the guests from tweeting through the wedding of Kate and William.

  

  Tags: Study, Twitter, ultimate twitter study Read more »

• How to go Viral with Video Content Marketing

  by Timothy Moutonon May 26, 2011in the categories Activation, Conversations, Social Web

  Online content marketing is a fairly recent marketing trend whereby companies or brands offer relevant and valuable online content to their target audiences. They do that to attract, acquire and engage new customers.

  Content marketing can come in many different forms and flavours: press releases, blog posts, Slideshare presentations or even social media messages such as tweets, Facebook or LinkedIn posts. Video, however, is the most powerful medium, as it appeals to a combination of human senses: motion, sight and sound.

  When perceived as being valuable, your content will be shared and generate additional visibility outside your own website. Make sure your video is embeddable by other websites. Therefore, video content marketing is a very engaging way to effectively spread your message.

  Browse the slides of the Explania presentation at Internet World 2011:

  
  
  
  Tags: content marketing, online video, SEO, Social Media, viral Read more »

• How conversations make or break your next product launch

  by Steven Van Belleghemon May 25, 2011in the categories Activation, Conversations, Skills

  Yesterday, I presented in the product management course @Vlerick. I talked about the role of conversations during a product launch. It’s my belief that word-of-mouth, positive conversations during the pre & post launch phase boosts trial.

  Up to now, most product launches are creating unused potential for their new product:

  - Keeping it too long confidential: pre-marketing really works well to boost conversations.

  - Don’t follow up on feedback: maybe your product isn’t perfect and you could launch a better, upgraded version short after the first launch taking into account the feedback of first users.

  - Focus on a bunch of product features and not thinking about what the conversation should be about.

  And there is more, check the entire powerpoint:

  
  
  
  Tags: Product launch, Vlerick, word-of-mouth Read more »