The hubze Blog (in this message: 6 new items)

SQUADCAST 7: Google Plus and Facebook
Stand Out with a Custom QR Code
iRespond: The argument of Auto-Responders
Facebook Friday: Why Boners BBQ Should Have Read the Hubze Blog
Surprise Your Friends With This Facebook Chat Gimmick
Instagram is now Optimized for Facebook Timeline

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 05:04 PM PST

We cover a little bit of Google plus as well as Facebook on this episode. There is a new Google search where it shows your social connections and what they have PLUS 1′ed and searched for. I personally think it’s really cool. Seems as though some of the other big dogs are not happy about it. Oh well, what are you going to do? They OWN search?

It appears that the FTC is going to be investigating them as well. I do not get that because they own the company and they started search, so why could they not make changes to it? I think that is ridiculous! But go ahead and listen and let us know what you think…

Download audio file (S7.mp3)

Be sure to share your G+ link so we can check you out!

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Stand Out with a Custom QR Code

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:10 PM PST

DETAILS OF THE DEAL:

Get one(1) CUSTOM QR Code made for your business or your clients business for just $67 !!

That’s $30 off of the regular price!

Get a QR for any occassion, website and more.

These are 100% custom and will be tailored to meet YOUR needs!

To grab your own CUSTOM QR Code GO HERE ASAP!

iRespond: The argument of Auto-Responders

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:07 PM PST

With 800 million users on Facebook and 100 million users on Twitter, it is so hard to feel like an individual; to feel as if the singular opinion or decision of one is just important as those of the majority. This is made more difficult by the popularity of auto-responders. It strips the personality potential of a business and turns it into a cookie cutter experience. To businesses, however this is seen as a way to communicate with as many individuals interested in their products and/or services as possible. They seek to show every individual that their interest is appreciated, even if they can't each be handled personally. Unfortunately, auto responders often have an opposite effect with customers who think that an auto response is anything but intimate.

The key to preventing auto-responders from leeching the value of your fan base is to make sure the content of the messages sent out by AR's is specific enough to seem tailored to each singular fan, while broad enough to apply to your fan base as a whole.

Avoid bland, impersonal content that makes it seem that a robot is cranking out messages in bulk.
Also, make sure there is evidence that your business does communicate and engage with its fans, followers, and customers personally on your page.
Commenting on wall posts or providing posts regarding topics talked about by users or sentiments about your business shows that there is a human behind your business and counteracts the possible negative feelings brought on by the use of auto-responders.

When used correctly and in conjunction with page engagement, Auto-responders can actually prove to be an advantage to many businesses.

Do not devalue the opinion of your audience, however. From a consumer perspective, it is hard to be impressed by a company's claims of great customer service if they use such an impersonal strategy to communicate with their fan base. It is almost a letdown when expecting a personal response you are instead given a dispassionate blanket message to all users or, and this is seen as an even greater offense, an advertisement for your product or service with no mention of them individually. Responses don't necessarily have to be a profound message commenting on the gratitude your business has for its following, but they don't want to be spammed for their interest or support going unnoticed.

BOTTOM LINE: Social media revolves around the creation and management of relationships.

The state of your business often dictates the seriousness of these relationships.

With larger businesses, those that have many individuals interested in their products or services, the use of auto-responders act as a bridge between their company and the plethora of consumers that they may not have the time or manpower to greet personally.
With smaller businesses, it is more manageable to address each fan individually because their fan base is smaller and they possess a greater desire for repeat business. The depth of each relationship dictates how you interact with your customers.
Remember, any response is better than no response to your fans, followers, and customers.

Facebook Friday: Why Boners BBQ Should Have Read the Hubze Blog

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST

Boners BBQ would have been a great case study on using social media for marketing. They had a Facebook page that reflected their brand values, and they kept a Twitter account that was active and updated. They also had a presence on Yelp and on local place pages. They linked all these to their website. Plus, they also gave out deals to their customers. But right now, one would hardly think that Boners BBQ is a business to emulate.

It started with this post on Facebook and Twitter:

Now any business owner would know what’s wrong with this picture. Not only was the staff and owner at Boners very unprofessional, but they also bullied, harassed and was basically disrespectful to a paying customer.

As fans of the page started to flame the customer, there were others who called for boycotting Boners for its inappropriate behavior. What soon followed was a firestorm where Boners and the customer were lambasted for their respected behaviors.

As it turns out, the customer did leave a tip, which she says amounted to “more than $7.” But that is not all she did. She also went on Yelp and left a somewhat negative review on the site. Most people speculate that this is why Boners BBQ’s owner, Andrew Capron, lambasted her on their Facebook page.

As the news broke and got picked up by local news outlets and then by international news sources, Capron backtracked and took the offending posts down. On January 10, he issued an apology on Facebook and Twitter:

Oh Boners! What YOU could learn!

The hubze squad has been offering tutorials on how to deal with this kind of situation before it gets out of hand.

1. Embrace negative reviews. As we have explained in Marketing Monday: Conquer Review Sites and Get Tremendous Benefits for Your Business!, expect that there will always be people writing negative reviews about your business. What to do? Instead of picking a fight, then you should see if it is a valid concern and address that concern. Respond appropriately.

Also, the Boners debacle has shown us the importance of great brand ambassadors, those customers who love you, your business and products so much that they will stand by you even in something like this. While there are a lot of people calling on others to boycott the BBQ joint, there are also those who said that they will continue to patronize the restaurant.

2. See if you can handle the deals. It seems that Boners also has a problem with their deals. Could it be that they were losing money from the coupons that they were giving out? Check out our cautionary tale about getting a deal out on Groupon and other daily deals sites: Groupon: A Word to the Wise.

3. Although it may seem like common sense, Andrew and the rest of the staff at Boners might learn from this: Six Social Media Best Practices Made Easy

4. Marketing on Facebook and Twitter is not easy. But it can be done properly. If you need a cheat sheet, check out The Ultimate Hubze Bucket List of 26 Social Media To-Dos

5. Think before you click. It has been a Twitter campaign for quite some time now and it would serve every one on social media to have this as a mantra. Capron’s excuse for posting the offending post? He was tired, stressed and he didn’t really think about it and was caught up by the heat of the moment. Now he has a PR crisis on his hands.

Surprise Your Friends With This Facebook Chat Gimmick

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST

Hey Hubzers!

Facebook chat may not be your preferred method of communication especially since the arrival of the groovy Google+ Hangout that allows you to video chat with more than one person (Facebook has group chat but no video conferencing option– I smell an update!).

Nevertheless I just found out that you can insert a profile picture into Facebook chat.

It’s the emoticon for the sophisticated Facebooker that desires to articulate a moment with more than a smiley face or a quirky tongue face (I still don’t fully understand what “:p” means).

LOOK:

Pinkies-up! Here is how to do it:

Take the profile id (you can find this at the end of a profile page's URL which will appear as either a name or code) of your friend or brand of choice…

…and sandwich this profile id with double brackets…

…and Voilà! It's alive!

If he were online I’m sure there would be an “ooo” or an “awe” somewhere in there.

If you are on the receiving end of these little images and have a hard time figuring out what or who it is, just hover your mouse over and the bracketed profile ID.

LIGHT BULB: It would be a great update if Facebook had these images linking to profiles—a girl can dream.

If you are really interested in this gimmick you can it to the next level and create profile pages that serve the sole purpose of keeping your profile image arsenal stocked.

Here are a few popular ID’s:

Mark Zuckerberg: [[Zuck]]
Rage Face: [[FUUUOFFICIAL]]
Troll Face: [[171108522930776]]
LOL Face: [[168456309878025]]
Yao Ming: [[218595638164996]]

For more rage ID's click here, and don't forget that you could always insert David Foster [[dfoster]] or Scott Ayers [[scottwayres]] into a Facebook message to spice things up with a little hubze-lebrity.

Instagram is now Optimized for Facebook Timeline

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 06:44 AM PST

I’ve been a big user of Instagram for a while now. I don’t sit on it and follow people that much, but I do love to use it to take pictures and then instantly turn them into something artistic. If you aren’t using Instagram, stop what you are doing right now and go install the app on your phone.. It’s pretty darn amazing.

But, my biggest gripe was that whenever you shared a photo to Facebook all you really shared was a link to the photo on Instagram. So you couldn’t tag it, make it your profile pic and etc. Plus if a friend clicked on it they were taken away from Facebook.

The good people at Instagram must have been listening to me because they made this latest change where now all photos you share to Facebook are uploaded to a folder on your profile and can be tagged! (Do keep in mind that you may need to go back and change the Privacy Settings on the folder like I did.).

The other really cool change is that because it’s an image uploaded to your profile on Facebook and not just a link when you “Feature” the image it will take up the full width of your Timeline! Which is really sweet as you can see in my video above.

This is just another great integration that Facebook has done with a 3rd party app that I think sets them apart from Twitter and Google+.

(Feel free to follow me on Instagram, I’m scottayres on there.)