J I B B E R - J A B B E R

Here's my Instructional Video for my MKF3881 class.

How Cupcake Central uses social media to create value!

This is my friend's business, and its super inspiring to see where she once came from to where she is now.

Originally an online store, Sheryl (owner of Cupcake Central) relied heavily on social media to generate interest, awareness and as a result work (by directing them to her website to make orders).

What started off as a girl who was laid off due to the GFC baking cupcakes in her kitchen for family and friends has grown into two store locations in Melbourne!

I don't think that they would have been this huge without the use of social media. I remember when they first started out on Facebook, I was sending their page to everyone I knew telling them about the awesomeness of these cupcakes!

The many that did 'like' the page, soon became super 'fans' as Sheryl kept posting up mouth-watering photos of her delicious creations!

It is quite amazing what social media is capable of.

Do you know of any companies/brands/small businesses that have seen huge success fro social media?

Check out this Facebook page: Qantas

Yes, it does not look bad now, but about a week ago it was a lot worst.

A shrine of hatred, close to 95,000 fans and person after person writing comments regarding how horrible the service is, the problems they are having relating to tickets and relating to the latest advertising campaign 'New Spirit'.

And no reply from Qantas.

This was a little surprising seeing as I have them seen them as a an active Twitter user.

So what should be done?

To be quite honest, I am stumped. I posted this on the MKF3881 forum to which Wags asked me:

And I never replied.

Because I had no idea.

But I figured now I will put it out to the audience, what would you do if you were in Qantas' position?

Here is what I think they could do:

Option 1

Cut your losses. Delete the page and start fresh. Like Wags said in the lecture, brands should enter this domain with great caution. I don't think they listened or experimented with it. Social media is a long term commitment. Once you've joined up you can't just abandon ship, and leave things to manifest. As much as a brand has no control over what the customer says, they still have the opportunity to defend themselves in the public sphere.

The only problem I see with this is that Qantas is then abandoning close to 95,000 fans. Those people aren't going to go seek the Qantas fan page again because they have assumed they were already a fan.

So this is probably not a viable option.

Option 2

They can just ignore everything that has occurred in the past and just concentrate on any new comments. So engaging with the 'fans'starting from this point. I think that at this point, all those who have not heard back from Qantas can be treated as a lost cause.

Option 3
Go back to the beginning of Qantas Facebook time and reply to everyone.


Of the three options, I think the second is the most realistic.

I don't think that Qantas really knew what they were getting themselves into. They probably just jumped on the bandwagon purely for the sake of remaining current.

Social media is not something that can be checked once a day. It needs constant 24/7 monitoring to ensure that all customers have their queries or complaints tended to. Most of the answers I saw on this fan page were quick, automated responses telling the customer to send their complaint to an address and that it may take a couple of weeks to reply.

No. These people are venting via Facebook as it is the easiest means to get their point across. If they wanted to place their complaint via that other forum then they would have. They want a response then and there and to be told to go somewhere else and leave it at that is not it.

Conversations need to be held with these people and that is not happening. Maybe the more serious complaints regarding refunds or lost baggage should be referred to other people, but yeah.

I tried to Google how one would fix something like this, but could not find anything.

So what do you think? Let me know!!

Up until about a week ago, I thought PayPal was an excellent method in which to pay buyers when I purchased goods online. I was always very pleased when the option to pay via PayPal was offered and always opted for that over paying via credit/debit card.


However, what I had originally perceived to be a reliable method of payment has turned out to be not so true.


Recently, my significant other had posted an ad on Gumtree wanting to sell his car. Prior to that, he had an ad on carsales.com.au, but had very little response, so decided to choose to sell via Gumtree as it had next to no fees associated with it.


About a couple of hours after he posted the advertisement, he had about 5 different messages all keen on the car. And all wanting him to email them with an email address they had provided.


As he had to go away, I dealt with a guy named Stuart via email.


And this is how it went down.

On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 11:30 PM, Harvey Nguyen <XXXXXX@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Stuart,

The car is in new condition as described, there is only a few minor scratches but other than that, everything is perfect.

And the price is $19,500 as advertised, but if you are wanting to negotiate please call my parents on XXXX XXXX as I will not be available until Tuesday.

I hope that helps.

Thanks,

Harvey 

Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 23:53:47 +0100
Subject: Re: Car advert
From: stuart19560@gmail.com
To: XXXXXX@hotmail.com

Hi,

Thanks for the prompt response. I will like to know more about its condition and possibly have more pictures of it. I will be very glad to have more pictures of it. I will be very glad to conclude this as soon as possible.

I am a Flight Sergeant (FSGT) of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). 

As to the price, Do as well advise on the least amount you will like to sell it. I will be very glad to make the payment through my PayPal account as it is very reliable,fast,secure and easy to use and I have my bank accounts linked to my PayPal and shouldn't have any problem making this payment.

Due to the nature of my work, I will not be able to come for the inspection. I will however be needing your address so that I can forward it to my shipping agent who will be coming over there for the inspection and shipping.

Thanks again and hope to hear from you soon..

Stuart

On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 5:53 AM, Harvey Nguyen <XXXXXXX@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Stuart,

This is Harvey's girlfriend. He is currently away on a training weekend and won't get back until Tuesday. So I'll let him know about your situation and get him to take more photos of the car and give a more detailed description of its condition. 

Other than the photos that are currently online, were there any specific photos that you wanted to see?

Also, in regards to the price, the least he is willing to sell it for is $18,500. But I think if you're going to pay via PayPal, he may have to increase the price because they take a percentage of the money, if you get what I mean. Other than that, I guess you could deposit the money into his bank account?

Email this address if you have any further queries, I will be checking it and will answer them as best as I can. But it won't be until Tuesday when you get more details regarding the condition of the car.

Thanks,

Lynh.

Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 3:52:19 +0100
Subject: Re: Car advert
From: stuart19560@gmail.com
To: XXXXXX@hotmail.com

And I stopped emailing him.

Why?

Call me naive, but I genuinely believed his story. I did not see any problem in allowing him to pay via PayPal and getting his shipping agent to come get it.

But one thing came to mind. Why not buy a car from the UK and not have to deal with shipping costs and importing it etc?

So I called the significant other and told him about it, and he said maybe. He didn't sound too keen, and when I asked him why, he said it was because he had read of such scams through the forum www.nissansilvia.com.au and was a bit iffy on the whole situation.

That put me in defense mode and I researched it and heard of  different scenarios where the buyer was  unable to come out to the car due to other commitments and was also really keen on paying via PayPal.

Then I also learned that PayPal doesn't protect users outside of eBay. So that made me think. How is PayPal safe?

After much research, I found out that PayPal is owned by eBay. And in theory, it should be safe because you're paying for the product through PayPal and therefore, your credit card information should be displayed.

And I guess it is, but by reputation one would assume that nothing bad could possibly go wrong. Well, I did.

I could probably be a minority. But I'm now a LOT more cautious...

So here's my question for this blog entry, have you ever been scammed online? Tell me about your experience!

So here's two ads I want you to watch.

And now watch this one.


So tell me, what's the difference?

Well, the first one is made by a student, Nick Haley, on his MacBook and uploaded onto YouTube. The second one is Apple collaborating with Nick to create an ad campaign that they actually ran.

I can't find the ad that Apple had prior to Haley's interpretation, but let me tell you, it was a bit bland.

But this is a great example of a brand collaborating with a consumer, listening to what he had to say and taking it on board.

Unfortunately, this cannot be said about all brands. Saw this ad in a recent episode of the Gruen Transfer.


Like Will said, Coles went about removing this ad. Which is funny, with their whole aim at trying to engage with their customers via social media.

Consumer Generated Content is something that has blossomed with this whole media age. We are given more tools and the creative ability to convey our thoughts and feelings. Instead of simply going onto a brand's FaceBook page and writing a complaint, they can get their voice heard in a differently light, possibly reaching more viewers if it were to go viral. Or by writing their own views and opinions in blogs.

So how should brands deal with this? I think that brands should not stop it. Stopping people from engaging in such forms of communication would be them trying to stifle our new found power and pushing us back into the previous period where we, as consumers, were being subjected to being told what to do.

Brands should learn to embrace this kind of communication, whether it be good or bad. Take it on as a form of feedback.

So tell me, what are your views on this? How do you think brands should approach negative consumer generated content? 

RANDOM!

I'm sure most of you have already noticed, but Blogger has updated their layout, theme, EVERYTHING. Right now, this page I am typing on looks so different from what I am used to. I noticed along the side that they also have a 'Location' option.

What is up with knowing where I am?

No, I am not in Caulfield right now, but that's cause I don't want people knowing where I live! I just wanted to see what it would look like on ze blog.