Rate me good! Endorse me! Give me a testimonial!

February 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Does asking for a rating, an endorsement or a testimonial devalue the whole idea?

Late last year, I let my Ecademy membership lapse.  Why?  Firstly, because I’d learned myself how to get the Google positioning that Ecademy offered via its blogs and profiles. Secondly, because I’d never got any actual work directly or indirectly from being active on it.  Thirdly because I’d got fed up being repeatedly spammed by Ecademy members – particularly Black Stars.

Fourthly (this is turning into quite a list, isn’t it? – but you’ll notice, Ecademy, I spared naming you in the title and h3 tag) – I got fed up of people asking to be connected, to be rated and for a testimonial – even though I’d never heard of most of them, far less bought anything from them.

Today, I joined ‘WeCanDO Biz’ – out of curiousity.  It’s an online directory / network I looked in on when it started sometime last year and was pretty underwhelmed.  About the only thing that raised my interest level a fraction was that users have a ‘I need….’ status feed (a bit like Facebook).  Could be handy – if it wasn’t full of people saying “I need… introductions to more customers” and such like.

It also has ‘endorsements’ – the idea being that you get reviewed and endorsed by your customers (bringing them into the network at the same time).  Nice in principle.

Two things happened.  First, I noticed the ‘No negative feedback’ approach. Ah, so only positive reviews then, or silence.

The second was that as soon as I joined, someone from a forum I’ve signed up for appeared with a request that I give them an endorsement.

Do you think that asking for an endorsement is wrong?

What would make an online endorsement carry the most weight for you?

Filed Under: business insight Tagged With: , , , ,

IQtest.am – typical Facebook ad. Cynical, misleading, exploitative

February 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Facebook Ads are cynical, often misleading and largely exploitative

Here’s a good example.  Look closely – it’s a little puzzle that challenges you to solve it.  “Find out instantly if your answer is correct” it says.

So I clicked on it.

Did I find an answer?  No.  Just a sign-up screen for a ridiculously expensive, trashy ‘service’ of the kind that would appeal to desperate 13 year olds or people with seriously impaired mental function.

What really pisses me off about this is that this kind of advertising is the norm.

I watched a TED presentation yesterday from a young internet artist / geek – all about modelling ‘feeling’ data as extracted from the world of blogs.  One of the most chilling moments was when the presenter mentioned that his data showed him all the women who had typed (among other things) the words ‘I feel addicted…’ in their blogs.

His pet project ‘I Feel Fine’ not only collects all these ‘feeling’ statements, but presents them in a way that allows links back to the original blog material. Excellent.  So now I know where I can go spam with my latest MLM ‘home business opportunity’.

Nowhere in this guy’s presentation was there any critical view about what this data invites people to do.

And I’m still waiting to hear somebody (anybody) raise the issue of the kind of advertising that Facebook breeds.  It’s a desperate, needy platform marketing addictive-style products to addictive people.  Don’t like the sound of that?

Go look at the ads.  I’ll take them apart for you one by one if I have to.  They’re all aimed at people trying to fix themselves with something that will – hopefully – make them feel better.

It might seem trivial to you, but the fact that IQTest.am can promise something in its ad and completely fail to deliver it shows online marketing for what it really is: exploitative, misleading and apparently unregulated.

Filed Under: GRRRR!!!, marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Dealing with an unhappy customer online

February 4, 2009 By 2 Comments

Is it better to deal with an unhappy customer online or should you try to take it offline?

When an unhappy customer blows off steam online, you’ve got a problem. Their comment is increasingly likely to appear somewhere near the top of Google – and that means its going to be read by your prospects and existing customers.

So if you come across someone raging about the service that your company provides in a forum or on a blog, what should you do?

Should you ignore it? Or put together a response? Should you get into a long drawn out discussion with them? Or take it offline and try to deal with it away from the public view? [Read more...]

Filed Under: ORM Tagged With: , , , , ,

Spotify invites, invitations and codes: no longer needed with Spotify ‘Open’

February 3, 2009 By

Spotify ‘Open’ free to everyone without invitation!

**Ignore the rest of this post and head on over to Spotify!! :-) **

Sadly, on or about the 18th Jan 2010 Spotify closed the back door that allowed you to create a free account without need for an invitation.

During this time, probably close to 200,000 people came through this site looking for a free, ad-supported Spotify account.  Some of those people were  from outside the countries supported by Spotify but the majority will have successfully created a free account. And of those, a healthy percentage will go on to sign up at some point for a Spotify Premium account.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you I can no longer help you get set up with a free account.

Many thanks for visiting and remember, if you really can’t resist having a go on Spotify, why not get someone with a free account to buy you a 1-month gift card for £9.99 so you can try out the full experience on your PC and on your mobile?

Enjoy!

.

.

Filed Under: Endless spotify praise, feedback Tagged With: , , ,

First Great Western customer service: going the extra mile in the snow

February 3, 2009 By 4 Comments

A MRB* to First Great Western for their customer service in yesterday’s snow chaos

Train Operators don’t get much praise because most people only ever remember the small percentage of messed up journeys, not the majority of good ones.  And few of us ever stop to consider what a miracle getting from one end of the country to the other actually is.

Well, a mukau Reputation Boost for First Great Western and their customer service is in order for their handling of yesterday’s shock UK snow traffic chaos.  Why? Because they ran trains yesterday when it would have made far better economic sense to cancel them. And the people who ran them were polite, informative, empathetic and helpful.

During the 2 hour delay on the freezing platform at Plymouth, I watched customers venting their anger at First Great Western – for things over which it had no control.  Being able to work with the barely suppressed rage of the Great British Public is, make no mistake, quite an achievement for any company’s customer service department.

Getting aboard a warm train after 2 hours on a freezing platform was, delays aside, a truly wonderful experience.  In addition, the service was good too – the train manager not only kept us informed every step of the way up to Paddington, he also checked with every passenger on the train and co-ordinated their onward travel.

For my measly £13 fare, I not only got to London warm and dry, I also got a £25 taxi ride to my destination – free – with a genuine apology from the Duty Station Manager at Paddington ringing in my ears.

One last thing.  You’re rubbish at taking good feedback, FGW.  I’ve tried several times but you don’t know how to do it. Pity – because you deserve it sometimes. Like yesterday.  Thank you. :-)

*Mukau Reputation Boost: A independent, positive and confidence-inspiring comment about your company high up in the Google search results

Filed Under: mukau reputation boost Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why can’t trains run in the snow?

February 2, 2009 By 7 Comments

Guess what? Google doesn’t know why British trains can’t run in the snow.

Nor, it would seem, do the UK train operators. If they do, they’re not telling us.

WikiAnswers.com takes a feeble stab at it: “No, they can’t run in the snow – but special trains can..” Mmm. Thanks.

The nearest we get to a real answer comes from a pdf from a Canadian train operator, Go Trains. Thanks to them we learn the problem might be to do with frozen switches:

Track switches
A switch is a section of railway track that allows a train to move
from one track to another. When snow and ice build up between
the moving rails, the switch can get blocked.

Aha! Thank you Go Trains. NOW we’re getting somewhere.

This strikes me as a missed opportunity, UK TOCs (that’s ‘train operating companies’).

Why? Because you’re going to have tens of thousands of angry customers screaming down your phone lines today about their lost tickets, missed meetings and ruined lives – and a bit of knowledge and understanding might have taken the heat out of their calls a bit.

And because it could have been YOUR company that explained to me why a train can’t run in the snow.

Not only would you have educated the great British public about the real issues involved in running a railway, you could also have been the company to answer that question and get all that lovely Google juice – and boosted your online reputation at the same time.

And you could even have gone one a step further and informed the snowed-in customer whether your cancellation means they’ve lost their money or not. :-)

Filed Under: feedback, GRRRR!!! Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Facebook ‘offers up users’ as marketing tool

February 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Facebook intends to capitalise on the wealth of marketing information it has about its users

So says ‘SocialMedian’ which goes on to talk about how Facebook users are going to be outraged that they’re going to be used in polls for market research.. or something.

Why, oh why is anybody surprised?

Did they think that Facebook was there for their well-being? That it somehow wasn’t accumulating a mass of personal data (given up with an unbelievable lack of caution)? That the people behind Facebook care about social media and personal empowerment more than good old-fashioned profit?

The minute any of us sign up to something like Facebook, we’re meat to the marketers.  Expect it. Expect the worst – then expect some more worser, because the bad news is that this social media stuff exists to make people money, not to create a nice touchy-feely world.

If you don’t like it, don’t be part of it – but don’t be all shocked and horrified, please!

Filed Under: GRRRR!!! Tagged With: , ,

Tweview: using Twitter for a movie review

January 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Tweview: the Twitter moview review. Ok – I just made it up.  But why not?

A cutting movie review in 140 characters.  There’s already an online art form called ‘Twaiku’ – Twitter meets Haiku.

I just posted ‘my routine’ in 140 characters on Twitter – in which I mentioned that part of my routine was commuting, watching recommended films and writing scathing reviews.

I noticed it felt like a Haiku.  So I Googled ‘Twaiku’ – to find it was (of course) a well-known, well-practiced art.

Which led me to the idea of the ‘Tweview’ (puke).  An idea which Google reports nobody else has thought of. So the Twitter film review is born.  And just like Haiku has to contain some reference to season in order to create a setting for the central idea, the ‘Tweview’ must somehow let the reader know what the movie is. It should also start with the word ‘Tweview:’

Here’s my first one:

Wall-e Tweview: We’re going 2 ruin the planet & get fat but don’t worry technology will save us & teach us how 2 relate 2 each other again.

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

M11 KAU plate day – a very good day

January 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

For all kinds of reasons!

Today (in fact just now in the dark) we put our ‘M11 KAU’ plates on the faithful old Honda (and I mean ‘old’!). They’ve been sitting around now for almost 2 years waiting to be put on a new car. They’re still going to have to wait for a new car, but they’re going on anyway – as a kind of celebration.

What are we celebrating? Getting this far. This time last year we didn’t think we’d still be in business. Things were very hard indeed. But we refused to give up.

And the result is that we’ve come through it smiling and done some good work that we’re proud of. And that the last quarter of 2008 was the best for us so far. We feel lucky that since the first 3 years of our business were so hard and that we learned so much we’re well placed for whatever the recession will throw our way in 2009.

We’re also celebrating that today was the first time in 27 months that Clare was able to spend time with her beloved 10 year old son.

And I’ve just accepted a 3 day a week contract in London with Delta7, the company that uses big pictures to drive change in large, complex organisations.

All of which gives us some space to concentrate on steering ‘mu:kau and ‘mu:kaumedia towards what we do best: helping you to get your happy customers to sell your business for you – and turning unhappy customers back into happy ones.

And last – but not least – today is the day that my ex-wife Teri Ann and James got married. We wish them health and happiness – and I thank them for being good parents to my kids.

Normally, I’m not a great fan of personalised number plates. These, however, stand for a lot of things we’re proud of today – even the fact that they’re on our rusty old red Honda :-)

Filed Under: news Tagged With: , , , ,

Spotify invitation: not needed any more with Spotify ‘Open’

January 24, 2009 By

Spotify ‘Open’ free to everyone without invitation!

**Ignore the rest of this post and head on over to Spotify!! :-) **

**** old news *****

Yes, that’s right – about 140 Spotify invitations left at this point in time

And they’re yours for the asking.

I know I’ve said it before, but Spotify is about as good as Google Earth – and that’s saying something.  If you’re like me and you love listening to music more than you are obsessed by any single band or style, you’ll love thanksSpotify.

Why? Because it’s the free streaming service that will bring you music you’ve never heard before but will be glad you did.

And it works like an intelligent iTunes: explore from any and every logical angle.  Kick off your own radio station and let Spotify bring you 1950′s Jazz tracks.  Like an artist? Click on their name, explore what else they’ve done.  Like an album?  Click on that album to listen to it like an album.

Like a track? Click on the track to find every version and every appearance and every cover of that track.

Search just by words.  Like ‘Chill’.  Or ‘Karaoke’ (if you’re like me, you’ll end up Burt Weedoning your way through all your favourites..).

It’s great.  No, really it is.  One ad an hour isn’t a problem.  The fact that it’s Moira Stewart reminding me that I’m still waiting for my Self-Assessment PIN number and am likely to miss the deadline, is.

:-)

Filed Under: Endless spotify praise Tagged With: , , , , ,
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