How to right social media mistakes

By now, you've probably heard about the Amy's Baking Company debacle after the owners of Amy's appeared on Gordon Ramsay's US version of Kitchen Nightmares. If you haven't, here's the very quick run down: The owners went on the show because their business had been affected, they felt, by bad online reviews on Yelp and other food critic places. They wanted Gordon to verify the tastiness of their food, but that isn't what happened. He had a lot of food criticism, and Amy reacted with total arrogance, vitriol, and denial. To say she was argumentative is an understatement. Gordon walked off the show because he didn't believe the owners could get past their denial to accept help. After the show aired, the couple went on Facebook and things got out of hand: they acted badly to all the people posting nasty things and made a very bad thing....much, much worse. Amy's Baking Company is now the international poster child for how not to act on social media.

But now I want to tell you about a very good story about a very big company called Land's End.

Some of you will remember this from last week, but here's the recap---with a totally different ending.

Last week, I got a Land's End catalog and I went to order some pants online from the catalog. The pants were completely sold out. Annoyed, I asked their customer service via chat why they wouldn't stock items they knew were coming out in their catalog. I was informed that the catalog is printed months in advance, but there were loads of other nice products on the site if I wanted to have a look! I did not want to look, I wanted those pants. I felt like I had been baited and then switched.

Then, I went on Twitter. I Tweeted to them.

Once again, got a @landsend catalog in the mail and yet again their items are unavailable...feels like bait and switch.
— SierraGodfrey (@sierragodfrey) May 11, 2013

They replied, "We're sorry you're disappointed." I can't show the tweet here because they deleted it-- my guess was that they didn't want that showing up on their timeline. I replied,

@landsend its not my disappointment you should be worried about...the loss of brand integrity is worse :(
— SierraGodfrey (@sierragodfrey) May 11, 2013

This was true: my primary concern here was hey! How come you don't care about the loss of my trust in your brand? As a marketing professional, I get the significance of brand value....and it looked like Land's End did, too, because they deleted my tweet. But that was the wrong way to protect their brand because that doesn't make a brand ambassador out of me.

Then, I blogged about it, and other people responded that they too had had the same issue with stock and catalogs, and they also commented that this was surprising because Land's End prided themselves on customer service--and I agreed. They did.

Then, after a few more tweets from me saying that Land's End had deleted their tweet, which felt like a big slap in the face, I got this from them:

@sierragodfrey We are sorry our response is gone. Wld you like us to assist you in finding a possible alternate prod? Again we apologize.

Note: this still shows up in Tweetdeck, but not on my tweetstream on Twitter.com and not on Land's End tweetstream, either. You could say they deleted it but I don't actually know. Maybe there's a way to hide tweets.

I had no response to this tweet, anyway, since it didn't address any of my concerns.

So what were my concerns? After thinking about it a few days it came down to two for me:

1. I felt like a little person vs. a large corporation who could do and say whatever they wanted, and it would be hidden. I felt small.
2. What did I want? I wanted the pants, yes. But most of all, I wanted Land's End to learn a lesson. I definitely didn't think this was remotely possible. 

So I let the matter lie, because who cared?--certainly not Land's End. I took down my blog post about the situation because I felt that ultimately my little bout of online shouting didn't matter at all--no matter that I thought my grievance was totally legitimate. I also didn't think it necessarily belonged on this blog.

So imagine my surprise when yesterday I got a package in the mail-- from Land's End. 

I sure knew I hadn't ordered anything. But this was a small little package. Here it is:

 

Yep, that's a box of pearls with a handwritten note from them saying:

"Sierra,

Between our chain of exchanges  we messed up and want to make it up to you. Please accept this chain of pearls as a token of our sincerest apologies.

Sincerely,

your friends at Land's End"

I want to point out a few things here:

• This was a handwritten note.
• They researched me to do this. They looked at my blog and then found my name in their database--which isn't Godfrey. 
• This did this immediately-- I blogged and tweeted about all this Monday, May 13, and I got the box Saturday May 18. 
• They did not ask me to blog or tweet about this.

I thought this was pretty classy.

So here we have a company that messed up -- but they didn't have to do anything. I'm little, they're big. But they did. In the end, they stuck to their brand value of customer service, and reached out to me.

I could have tossed the box over my shoulder and said, "Ha! Too little, too late." I knew that they knew I'm active on twitter and that I blog, and that I was likely to mention this. But I might not have, either. That's a chance they were willing to take. I wanted to talk about it because this is a success story. They didn't say, as so many companies do, "We know you were upset, so here." They flat out said, "We messed up." 

That's cool in my book. 

So, Land's End, which I expect will read this since you've got me on your radar, kudos to you. 

You did everything I wanted and you emerged with class. Nice job. 

*Here is the complete Amy's Baking Co story, and it should have links to the show on You Tube as well.

Newsletters for Authors

Newsletters. You should probably have them if you're a published author. But when I sat down to write this post, I felt overwhelmed.  Newsletters are overwhelming. And that's with me having designed, written, and sent them! But then I thought, okay. I'll  tell you how to do them as though I was talking to a friend who is probably going to set one up for her author site.

So here's what you need to know.

1. Think it through first.
You might think they're a good idea, but are they? Are you going to write one yourself? What will you use it for? How often will you send one out? Did you know you have to obey anti-spam laws? Do you know what those are?* Did you know it usually costs money to send them out? OK. Calm down. Here's the skinny:

• Yes, you will write one. You will write one that alerts your mailing list group to a new release, a contest, a giveaway, or an appearance. You will use it to invite feedback. You will write the newsletter in a cool way that will not make your newsletter readers feel instantly nauseated when your newsletter arrives in their inbox. (I have tips below for preventing that.)

• Yes, they cost money. But they are very inexpensive. We're talking pennies (3 cents per email). Why do they cost money? Because you're using a service. Yes, you can write and send your own newsletters for free from your own email account. Have fun with the subscribe and unsubscribe system.

• Yes, you will send them out on a schedule. That is, one that you choose. No, it doesn't have to be every week. Just not never. 

• Anti-spam law, or the CAN-SPAM Act, which is a fabulously contradictory name, generally says that you need to have a real, physical address to send out a newsletter (a PO box will do) and that you cannot harvest addresses or put people on mailing lists without their express permission, usually given through an opt-in form. It's why we have all those annoying emails that say "Click here to verify that you want to sign up for Stripper Poles R Us." You can read more here. (About the CAN-SPAM act, not stripper poles. You're on your own for those.)

2. Sign up for a service.
There are a bunch of services out there. They're probably all fine. Here are some:

• Vertical Response. I use them and I like them. You don't have to. 
• Mail Chimp. These guys are good. 
• Aweber. I know nothing.
• Constant Contact. High user base. Never used them.

3. Configure the list and signup form.

This is the tricky bit. Don't be afraid, though. All newsletter services let you say what you want to say both on your thank you for signing up page and your enter email address box. Yes! You can customize it all! And you should. The best way to figure out how you want to customize it is by subscribing to your own newsletter and watching what happens when you do. You'll likely get confirmation emails and things. See the Scott Stratten link in item #5 below for a tip on how to make this a nice experience.

• Definitely use pictures and graphics
• Use the same graphics as your website so there's a branded, cohesive look
• Customize your thank you page when people sign up--most services have a place for you to put your own link for this

4. You can Lead a Horse to Water....

So how do you get people signed up for your newsletter? 

• Invite them on your website with the code -- usually provided by your service (see above)

• Ask friends and family if you can add them. ASK FIRST. Not asking is rude--no, it's worse than rude. I have gotten a few newsletter type emails from people who got my email off their blog. This is spamming.

5. Keep people reading.

• Do not tell them it's "free" -- no one cares. All newsletters are free. Read this post by Scott Stratten on how to keep your subscribers. Read and learn how he does it.

• Write cool copy. Keep your subject lines short and interesting. Read this post by CopyHackers' Joanna Wiebe on which subject lines worked for her newsletters.

• Have a nice design to your newsletter. You can hire me to create a custom, beautiful design, or you can use one of the pre-made designs offered by your newsletter service. Either will work. Most newsletter services offer a bunch of nice pre-made designs. 

So, ready to see how it works? Sign up for mine. Why do I have one? For purposes of this post, of course! (And also to begin building my World Domination list.) If at least 5 people sign up --and I have it set to tell me when people sign up, oh yes-- then I will send out a newsletter and you can see what I do with it. In it, I will tell you all my good news. And I will share super secret links with you.

Sign up for my inane and irrelevant newsletter full of way cool stuff and other ephemera.

* required

Email Address: *



Social and Email Marketing by VerticalResponse

P.S. Author Amy Sue Nathan put this out on Twitter today --her first newsletter-- and I thought it was a good example of how to do one as well. Check it out.

Marketing Tactics for Authors

Last week I talked about how your readers are your brand ambassadors. People commented about their own experiences with authors who were less than gracious, as well as good celebrity encounters that were humble and cool.

One type of encounter leaves you a life-long fan, and the other type turns you off forever.

Today I'm going to give some marketing ideas for dealing with readers who love you (this is targeted toward published authors). In other words, this is how to turn readers into your brand ambassadors.

Why do we want brand ambassadors, again?
Simply put, a brand ambassador sells your books for you. Also:

• A happy reader will buy all of your books the second they are released.
• A happy reader will go buy more copies of your books for their friends and relatives as gifts. Don't think they do? Think again. I've done this with all of my top favorite authors. Multiple sales. 
• A happy reader will blog, tweet, or rave online about you. I did this about Liza Palmer and guess what? It resulted in at least one book sale that I know of. 
• A happy reader will engage with you (if you're accessible) and give you adoration.
• A happy reader may just turn into a peer -- and as a fellow published writer, that's a resource in your corner. 

Pop quiz time. 

Let's say you have a book out there. You get an email or a tweet or a blog comment from a reader saying, "I could not put this book down. I loved it. I LOVE you [author name].  New favorite author!"

Do you:

a) Enjoy the praise and grin quietly to yourself

b) Reply and thank the reader

c) Ignore the reader 

d) Thank the reader, remark about how cool that is, and invite that reader to be on your super elite inner circle list of people who get your news first including galleys and other book related merchandise, because you recognized that this reader is going to be your champion

I hope you answered D.

Too many authors, unfortunately, do C. I get it. I do. Big authors especially get this kind of praise all the time. And they're not marketers. Sheesh, that's what PR people are for, right? Writers write! This post is not for those authors. This is for people who understand that marketing takes work, and that rewarding your customer means repeat business and untold goodwill when that customer then goes and sings your praises.

So, what do you do with that gem of a reader? Here are some ideas, from least engaging to most engaging.

Listen.

Make it easy to approach you. Tweet, blog, be on Facebook, put your email out there and say along with it that you love hearing from readers. Give an email address. Provide a newsletter signup. Then....

Reply.

It only takes a second and a reply tells the reader you're listening and you appreciate it. Sadly, one of my most favorite authors, Marian Keyes, only replies on Twitter to her friends--possibly because she's got a fat massive readership following and commenting at her in every direction. It's not just Marian--I've tweeted to many people who are some kind of celebrity and actually never gotten an answer from them. While I don't love Marian any less (to do so would be sacrilegious), does a non-reply chip away at my adoration? Honestly? Yeah. It does. I'll still buy the book, though.

So why is it important to reply, then?

Because if you reply, the reader LOVES YOU. They're really happy. They're ecstatic! And they'll do MORE than just buy your book. They'll buy for others. They'll talk about it. They'll be your own publicist.  

Engage.

Talk with your readers. Have a conversation with them. Yeah, scary, especially if you get a lot of mail that's on the inane side. No! Do not nod along with that sentence! Your readers are not inane--and if they are, it doesn't matter, because they are your customers!

• Start a conversation with them (very easy to do on Twitter)
• Invite them to talk with you more by email or blog
• Offer them stuff. Offer to sign their books if they send them to you. Offer to send bookmarks. Which is part of... 

Reward. 

If you have someone who took the time to approach you online and who isn't overtly psycho? This one is a slam dunk.

• Invite them to join your top-echelon mailing list that gives them first-basis access to your news and books
• Give them a galley proof -- or add them to the list of people who receive pre-release book copies. If that seems like you're kissing a sale away, then send them the first chapter or two before a new book comes out, by email. It'll get them excited and talking. 
• Offer to do an interview on their blog. Again we're talking about the devoted reader here. Is this really so hard to do? And the benefits go so far. If you're thinking, yes, but I don't have time to do this for everyone who asks, I'm not saying do it for everyone who asks. Do it for the readers who have reached out and adored you rather than the ones who are fishing for a big name. You know the difference. 
• Offer a signed bookmark or book-related promo item-- this seems silly but it's something and sometimes if this is all you have to give, it's enough.
• Take it a step further and include that reader in a public thank you on your blog or Twitter.

Here's Why You Should Do It
Understand that what you're doing here is making your reader feel rewarded, special, and part of an inner circle. I'm not suggesting that you spend oodles of time on every one--or maybe I am. Readers are your customers, after all, and offering people a reward pushes like into love. One of the reasons for that is that we are totally accustomed to seeing businesses offer first-time customers a reward, but it is very rare that existing devotees of a brand get anything at all. But giving them something transforms them from fans to brand ambassadors.

If you're still not convinced, here's another story. A few years ago, I went to buy some printer ink online. I went to 4inkjets.com and what I liked is that they were offering 20% for everyone--not just people who were first time customers. (Google "New customers only" in Google images and see the amazing amount of stuff that comes up if you want to see how many companies do this.) Rewarding first time customers is a huge marketing mistake because there's no brand loyalty for first-timers. But your repeat customers? Give them the discount code! DUH! They are the ones who will be back! It blows my mind how many companies miss the boat on this.

Anyway, I thought that was cool of 4inkjets so I blogged about it. And then tweeted that post. They were listening. (Listen) They saw it. (Reply) They thanked me, and then asked me for my address to send me a thank you token. (Engage and reward) It was a wireless mouse with their logo on it.

Pretty cool, huh? All because I was public about how cool they were. At no point did they ask me to blog about them, nor did they ask that I publicly mention that I got a gift. But am I repeat customer now? Of course! More than that, am I all about what a great company they are? Yes! When people ask me where I get ink supplies (and they do), guess where I direct them? And not just direct them, but tell them why to go there?

A final word. When your brand ambassador refers a friend to you, treat that friend like gold. That friend is primed to be another brand ambassador because they've already had good experience number 1 and it wasn't even their own-- it was the original friend. Build on that.

Comments? Questions?

Brand Ambassadors

Years ago, I worked with a guy who had worked for Apple, or so it said on his resume. His position was "brand evangelist." I remember thinking, an evangelist is a real title? WTF is that?

I don't know if he got paid for it, or if it was just an arrangement with Apple. But it was smart on Apple's part. What is was is someone who recommends Apple products--and not just recommends, but enthuses, and loves, and sings the praises of.

These days, we use the term "brand ambassador," which sounds much nicer than the religious overtone of evangelist. You might be wondering why I'm writing about this here. It's because anyone who is selling books needs to know about it.

We are told that blogging and blog interviews and blog tours and even book signings don't sell books long term. That is, they don't grow your readership. We are told it's really all about word of mouth. But how on earth do you get your book to be spread by word of mouth?

A story: at my local farmer's market there's this wonderful Afghani food vendor called Bolani. Bolani makes really delicious sauces and breads. Healthy, low fat, and drool-inducing. I've been a fan for a long time. A few weeks ago, I was at the farmer's market and stopped by the Bolani booth. The guy there offered me a sample, which of course I took (I'm not an idiot) and he asked me if I'd had it before. I launched into an enthusiastic account of how I've been buying their stuff since last summer and how much I love them, blah blah blah. I mean, I'm a brand ambassador for them. I tell everyone how good they are.

What does the guy do?

He turns, in the middle of me talking, to someone else, and starts speaking to them. He shut me off.

I closed my mouth with a snap. Wow, I thought. What a way to treat a customer standing right in front of you, telling you how much they love you. It was like telling me to go $#@%& myself.

Because now I had a bad feeling. I was made to feel like an idiot and that he didn't care at all that I spent money on his products. There was no way I'd be a) telling other people about them now, or b) buying their stuff when I had the choice.  Notice how I'm blogging about it, too. Now everyone gets to know how they treat their customers.

I was no longer a brand ambassador for them. Which was too bad, because their sauce is tasty.

This has happened before at book or CD signings when I've met authors or musicians. The experience has been so disappointing that I haven't bought further books or music from them. Pet Shop Boys are famous for being utter dickheads (Chris Lowe, at least), but it's different when he's a dick to you. I went off them after meeting them. Two authors at a signing couldn't care less that I was there--and I can't say I ever read another word of theirs. It's why I no longer go to book signings--invariably, the author will turn away just as I get there or scribble in my book and shove it aside like it's on an assembly line. I don't want that. I've read their work and I want to see the person who's behind it all. I don't want to be treated like cattle.

I think authors are really missing the boat on readers as brand ambassadors. If you have published a book and a reader contacts you and enthuses and gushes and says "I adore you!" then you know you have a future reader in them. Don't ignore them. Don't turn them off. Make it a priority to answer them. (I am not speaking of anyone I know here.) Don't take my word for it. Social media expert Scott Stratten has harped about this for a long time.

So, what are you going to do about it if you have a book and  enthusiastic readers? There are endless possibilities. Next week I'll do a post giving some ideas.

80s Mix Tape: A Bright Spot in the Brown

A lot of poopy stuff happened one day a few weeks ago, but when I sat down to write my 5 quick things about the day, what I remembered most was dancing in the late afternoon sunshine.

Which wasn't poopy at all.

You see, Mr. Sierra had found an awesome old tape of mine from 1994 and better yet--a tape player to play it. He put it on and I heard it and said to him, "Wow. This is awesome music. Are they playing this on the radio? What station?" He murmured something and then a few minutes later I said, "This really is awesome. What station, because I need to go make it my default." He laughed and told me it was my tape that I'd recorded off the radio in 1994 when our local alternative station in the Bay Area, Live 105, ran a Flashback Weekend over Labor Day or something. They played all the best long mixes of all the best old songs from the 80s.
I am supreme lover of 80s music, so this was fabulous.

But best yet, it was a real bright spot in all the poo and sometimes that's what you need. So I give you my Poopy Day Mix Tape. Yeah, it's a total 80s flashback, and believe me, I've got more. If you like it, leave a comment and let me know. I also tweet random 80s songs now and then.

I feel strongly that although How Soon is Now is a song about a pathetic guy, pretty much everything is better when you hear Johnny Marr's signature guitar.


The Smiths - How Soon is Now Extended Version
Cause and Effect - You Think You Know Her
New Order - Blue Monday Extended Version
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Adam and the Ants - Ant Music
Tones on Tail - Go
Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy

Love it....or list it?

If you watch HGTV then you probably know that show Love it Or List It. If you're not familiar, it's about homeowners who want to change something about their home, so they work with a designer to do that. Meanwhile, they go see new houses with a real estate agent who tries to get them to list their current home and leave. At the end of the show, they have to choose whether to love their newly renovated home, or list it and buy a new, fresh one.

I was taking a look at my blog the other night, randomly looking through old posts. Some were really cool because they captured moments when my oldest son, now six, was two or three. Some were cool because I've had some really awesome guest posts on the blog. As well, there was a definite group of people who read my blog and whose blogs I read. Like a kind of school of blogging for the times, if you will.

But most of my posts were fairly awful.

A significant amount of posts meander or else take a decided know-it-all tone. Like, ugh. I don't even want to read them. I tried to be prescriptive, which in some cases worked (like on topics I'm a professional in, like websites or graphic design), but in most others it was horrid. I guess you could say I'm in a very different place now than when I started blogging here in 2009. This is all good.

My first impulse was to delete old posts that were cringe-inducing. But that would likely mean deleting most of the stuff here. Some of those posts, while bad, shows a snapshot in time. On the other than, keeping that crapola around isn't helping anything.

Eventually, I'll be migrating this blog over to my website, which I'm transferring into Wordpress but which is still HTML based right now. It seems like a good opportunity to take the good stuff and trash the rest. I don't know. Wordpress allows you to import posts and comments from other platforms, so I could take them...or leave them. Love it....or list it?

If you have a blog that you've had for many years, how do you feel about old embarrassing posts? Do you delete any? If the way you present yourself over time has changed, what do you do with those old posts? What do you think I should do?

How to remember stuff

Some place, some time ago (we're doing good so far, aren't we?), I heard some person (I know, already) say that they write 5 things down each day. That's it. No long paragraphs that require thought and concentration (if you have kids you know you're bubbling your lips at 9 pm). No flowery paper and wood-paneled pens that you nicked from your boss's office. No rules. Just something.

I loved the idea, and I started doing it. Mainly because I feel like I'm missing the minutia of life. When I do my epic (only to me) end of year posts here on the blog, it's fun.  But last year? I had a really hard time remembering anything. This is partly because I have a child under two, but that doesn't make the loss of my mind any less horrifying.

So, I opened up a Word doc ad typed the date. And then:

1. 

2.

3.

4.

5.

And I wrote 5 things, however silly, that happened that day. Because I didn't want to think about it too hard, I saved the doc and then opened it again and added to it the next day, with the new date and list above the first one. That's it. Maybe I'll save it by month, but likely by year. 

Here's what I wrote that first day:

March 8, 2013

1. Older son (6.5 yrs) had a screaming meltdown on the playground before school because he didn't have a sweater to wear (in addition to his coat). I realized later it was about the lack of options that upset him. He ended up having a good day once I left. 

2. I’m reading the Maeve Binchy book today, her last book before she died, and it’s so good. It’s not even written in a very modern style but it’s like falling into a comfy chair.

3. In Target, toddler (Rainbow Puppy, 23 months) heard a baby crying and was very concerned. He told me there was a baby crying and his mama should pick him up (“Pick up. Up.”) I asked him if I should go pick the baby up. He decided that would not be preferable. 

4. I had a dehydration headache and was amazed to see that water really does take headaches away (in such cases). 

5. I vowed (re-vowed, actually) never again to shop at JC Penney for refusing to stock 529 Levi’s jeans in size 12, curvy fit for large asses.

Remember, there's no rules here. I miss some days, so what. How do you journal? Do you journal at all?