SPAM-tistics of Social Media: Do not be afraid

I read this morning that 40% of all social media accounts are held by spammers.

Cue ominous music … or Monty Python skits.

Humor aside, what is the average Facebook or Pinterest user supposed to do with this information?

First of all. let’s put the statistic into perspective. According to Symantec, in 1990 90% of all e-mail was spam. By 2011 it was down to 69%.

And I’ve read that 40-90% of all mail delivered by the USPS is junk mail.

So while 40% of user accounts being held by spammers does seem high, it is expected. And no matter what the companies do to prevent it, I do promise, it will continue to rise with the medium’s popularity.

So what’s a user to do?

Just like the idea of avoiding the use of e-mail or the USPS are not viable solutions, the avoidance of using social media to avoid the spam is not a viable solution either.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are all fighting the spammers (talk about job security), but we need to do our part as well.

The US Army has shared great steps on protecting yourself on Facebook (it’s all about your security settings).

  1. Friends only
  2. Less Sharing
  3. Personal Protection
  4. App Remover
  5. Limited Access
  6. Don’t Take it Personal
  7. Stealth Mode
  8. Good Networking
  9. Don’t Become a Target

Virtuoso has steps to protect you on Twitter.

  1. Never ever ever open a link in a tweet (mention) or a direct message from someone you don’t know.
  2. Never believe that someone has written an awful blog post about you or that their friend has posted a terrible photo of you on line. They haven’t!
  3. Never login to your Twitter account unless it says https://twitter.com or http://twitter.com in the URL
  4. Change your password regularly and use a complex combination of words and numbers.
  5. Report and block spam users
  6. Follow @safety and @spam to keep up to date with recent trends in spam attacks on Twitter.

(please click through to both posts for details)

LinkedIn spam is, first of all, about the malware, so don’t click on anything from anyone you don’t know. And protecting LinkedIn Groups from spam means more moderator administration and care, but group members need to do their part and REPORT the spam.

We’ll never get rid of spam. When it only came in the mail, it was just annoying and something with which to line the bird cages. But in its digital form, digitally it can cause great personal and professional harm to personal reputations, professional brands, computer hardware, bank accounts, software systems, etc.

We can, however, minimize the risk, by using common sense, employing security filters, and resisting the urge to click.

2012
05/30
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Social Media
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Facebook’s IPO might have fizzled, but it’s not time to delete your page

All the chat these days around the water cooler is about how the LA Kings are heading to the Stanley Cup finals (hey, I’m in Los Angeles). Oh, and how the Facebook IPO has fizzled.

A lot of people want to point to the poor performance of the IPO launch to say, “See, this Facebookie thing is just a fad.”

But don’t delete those Facebook pages and profiles just yet.

No matter what the naysayers say, Facebook is not just a fad.

Take a look at Facebook’s most recent statistics:

  • 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012.
  • Approximately 80% of our monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada.
  • 526 million daily active users on average in March 2012.
  • 488 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products in March 2012, and more than 500 million mobile monthly active users as of April 20, 2012.
  • During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of the last seven days.
  • More than 125 billion friend connections on Facebook at the end of March 2012.
  • On average more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook per day in the three months ended March 31, 2012.
  • An average of 3.2 billion Likes and Comments generated by Facebook users per day during the first quarter of 2012.
  • More than 42 million Pages with ten or more Likes at the end of March 2012.
  • Facebook is available in more than 70 languages.

Until we see the USERS fleeing Facebook, there is something there there.

Until we see the BRANDS fleeing Facebook, there is something there there.

In fact, one trend I am intently following is how the brands, large and small, are no longer promoting their company URLs in print, television and radio advertising. They are, however, pushing consumers to their Facebook pages.

Why? I am going on the supposition that a person cannot interact with a Website. They can, however, interact with a Facebook page.

You cannot deny that Facebook has fundamentally shifted how the world and its people communicate with one another. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, it’s not going back.

When a user comments, likes or shares a Facebook page or post, it is shared on the user’s personal wall. The users are, in essence, providing that page (the brand) a referral or a tacit approval.

For instance, when I clicked “like” and provided a comment for Hamburger Mary’s Legendary Bingo Night (oh, this is NOT your grandmother’s church bingo night), that was shared on my wall, and my 600 or so friends could see that too.

Now, instead of just me and the Sports Dude going to play drag queen bingo this Sunday night, we have a table of ten going.

That’s money in the bank for Hamburger Mary’s and the charitable organization of the night. And it was free.

Which is the problem for Facebook. They need to turn that valuable activity into cold, hard cash.

Wall Street might not understand how to monetize Facebook (yet), but it will happen.

All I am saying is that before you write off Facebook and social media, give it some time. Social media is still a new medium. After all, Zuckerberg is ONLY 28-years old.

If the brands continue to flock to Facebook for the value they find in their pages, then Facebook needs to sell access to that.

I assure you, paying several hundred or thousands of dollars to run a Facebook page is NOTHING for these brands. Just think how much we used to pay for yellow and white page advertising.

Once those brilliant marketing majors figure out how to measure the ROI of Facebook advertising and user activity for the brands, then Facebook will be able to package that into a product to sell for itself. (Which, by the way, I think will focus around page interaction rather than straight click-throughs of the banner ads).

And before I close this out with a brilliant, and perhaps witty recap, I just want to point out that while the press made a huge to do over GM dropping their Facebook advertising, they seemed to downplay that just two days later GM dropped their Super Bowl ads as well. I have a feeling this strategy has more to do with the health of GM’s stock price than Facebook’s.

So what does all of this mean to law firms and the legal industry?

It’s a trend to follow. And definitely one NOT to ignore.

Personally, I NEVER look to other law firms for trends to follow. I look to the brands, and then see how I can interpret what they are doing for the legal services industry as a whole, and my firm specifically. Some trends interpret easily, and others are more nuanced.

However, considering that our firms are representing these companies, these brands, it is important for us to understand their business models, how those are changing, and how they are now conducting business in a socially connected world.

2012
05/23
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business of law
Public Relations, Advertising & Directories
Social Media
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Get a fricken website already

I just checked my calendar and, yup, it really is 2012.

Other than the earth coming to an end later this year, it’s about fricken time you got a website.

There just aren’t any good excuses out there.

Yeah, I’m talking to you solo and small firms out there.

And this is especially true for those of you who represent consumers – family law, divorces, child custody, employment matters, trusts & estates. I’d add personal injury, DUI and immigration to the list, but those folks are marketing machines.

Seriously. If you Google yourself or your firm, what do you find? If the answer is NOTHING, than you are LOSING business every day, and you don’t even know it.

Case in point:

Read more

2012
04/25
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Branding, Graphics & Logos
business of law
Clients
Public Relations, Advertising & Directories
Random Rant
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Trouble With Mailing Lists

Seriously, I have not planned on these blog posts for the past couple weeks being focused on customer/client service, but that appears to be what’s in front of me.

My assistant just brought in my mail, fanning herself and laughing. And here’s why:

I swear, I am not making this up. I get SEVEN of everything from ALM.

There are three addressed to Heather Milligan. Two addressed to Heather Morse Milligan. One addressed to Heather Leigh Morse (wow, got my middle name in there). And one to Heather Morse.

I’m sure the sports dude is taking offense that there aren’t a couple in there addressed to Heather Morse-Geller.

I have tried to correct this. I really have. But rather than removing me from a mailing list, it’s turning into “Trouble with Tribbles.”

Come on, you guys. You have to have a CRM data steward there. Someone’s gotta be able to fix this.

2012
04/17
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business of law
Clients
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You WOWed me. You really wowed me!

While at the Legal Marketing Association’s annual conference last month I made my way through the exhibit hall and checked out all the great prizes that could be won.

As a sitting member of the board of directors, it is our policy to not participate in the drawings, so I was really just window shopping.

My buddy Jeff Reade from Cole Valley Software (CRM) always has these great giant Pez dispensers. And this year he had an ELVIS one. Which was PERFECT!

My oldest daughter is off to London and Paris this summer with her aunt, so I am taking the younger one to Nashville to visit grandma (talk about “I’ll take door number two, Monty.”).  I am trying to make it as special as possible, so we’re also going to head over to Memphis and visit Elvis at Graceland.

While my daughter’s taste in music is limited to Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Big Time Rush (luckily no Bieber in our household), she does know Elvis. Maybe it’s the way he died, or the Cirque du Soleil show we saw in Vegas, but she’s really excited about our trip.

While I was bummed I couldn’t throw my card in and participate in the drawing for Jeff’s ELVIS dispenser, he told me where he got it, and I promptly forgot all about it until today.

Guess what came in the mail??

ELVIS.

I am so excited.

I immediately sent an email to Jeff thanking him, and then came running here.

THIS IS GOOD CLIENT SERVICE. It does exist, Virginia.

My expectations were completely exceeded.

And I’m not even a client of Jeff’s. I am, however, an influencer, and a referral source, along with being a friend.

For those of you selling services and products, it’s these little things that make us remember you.

This was much more than a touch-point. You have added to my child’s happiness, and to her memories.

That is HUGE!

So, once again, thank you, thank you, Jeff, for remembering us. You WOWED me. You really did.

2012
04/16
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Clients
Reputation Management
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Okay. I’m Satisfied.

On Tuesday night I blogged here about an incident with my NOOK and my feeling that I, a loyal customer, wasn’t being taken care of by Barnes and Noble.

I got into a war of words with some loyal customers on Facebook who felt I should be satisfied with the offer I was being made by some mid-level managers (who were all very nice, by the way).

These managers were offering me the best “deal” that they were authorized to make. Which is fine.

But it wasn’t enough for me.

James Kane, whom you know I respect immensely from my post Why do some people stay, and some people leave?, talks about the difference between loyal and satisfied customers.

  • Loyalty is not a brand. It’s not about rewards programs. You cannot bribe someone to love you.
  • Loyalty is not about satisfaction. Dogs are loyal. Cats are satisfied.
  • Relationships with our clients is satisfaction. They are transactional. We do something, they pay us, and they are satisfied. They owe us NOTHING.
  • Satisfaction is a mood.
  • Loyalty is a behavior.
  • Satisfaction is the past. What you did for me yesterday.
  • Loyalty is about the future. What I will do for you tomorrow.

Loyal customers will promote you and sell your products for you. Satisfied customers will use your products because they don’t have a choice.

Sunday afternoon I was a loyal customer of NOOK.

By Tuesday evening I was a POd customer who might have been lost for good.

After speaking with Danielle in the Corporate Customer Relations Department this morning, who has resolved my issues with my NOOK 100%, I am back up to a “satisfied” customer.

So how does Barnes and Nobel return me to the loyal customer who has encouraged her immediate family to purchase,  or personally purchased for them, SIX different NOOK products in the past 18 months (2 NOOK first generation, 1 NOOK Simple Touch and 3 NOOK colors)?

Simple answer: I don’t know. I guess we’ll see how things go over the course of the next few months.

However, we’re off to a good start.

My new NOOK has already shipped, and I cannot wait to read the new Hunger Games book my daughter is lending me. Hopefully I’ll be finished with it in time for my new Sookie Stackhouse guilty pleasure coming out on May 1.

Either way, summertime reading is upon us, which is why I purchased my NOOK in the first place. For the e-ink. You can’t read from an iPad outdoors by the pool or at the beach.

ETA: please click here to expand the post and read my comment on how Danielle in Corporate Customer Service saved the day.

2012
04/12
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Just Because
Public Relations, Advertising & Directories
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I am so mad, I could write a blog post

I am so mad at Barnes and Noble’s NOOK that I am writing a blog post about it.

I have a 1st Edition WiFi NOOK. I spent $189 or so on it about 20 months ago. I love it.

Well, loved it.

Even though I have my iPad I still love my NOOK. I use it out by the pool and on the beach. It’s lighter than my iPad, so makes for easier reading in bed.

In fact, I’ve been so loyal that I have since bought each kid a NOOK (NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Color), and I just got my dad a NOOK Color for his 75th birthday.

I urged my nephew to get a NOOK so we can share our passion for history. I pushed my sister-in-law to get a NOOK over the Kindle so we can share our passion for Sookie Stackhouse.

No doubt about it, we’re a NOOK family.

It’s been great. Up until last night.

My daughter just lent me Book 3 in The Hunger Games series. I went to download it and was notified of an update. Took a few minutes for the update and then I was asked to register it. And then …

NOTHING

As in error code c7850.

As in my NOOK is now a paper weight.

As in for $35 I can purchase another NOOK 1st edition since they have a few lying around the warehouse.

Hey, if I dropped my NOOK in the pool, or spilled my coffee on it, or stepped on it, I’d have no problems buying a new one. I just paid $8o to replace the glass on my iPhone (don’t ask).

But I didn’t do anything to my NOOK other than turn on my device and accept the update.

And then I spent 1.5 hours with technical support tonight trying to find out what was wrong.

I’ll tell you one thing, what IS wrong is that Barnes and Noble HAD an extremely LOYAL customer, and now has an extremely dissatisfied one.

In the “olden” days a dissatisfied customer would share with about 10 people. Well, in the age of social media, I’ve already shared with my 2812 Twitter follwers, my nearly 1000 fans and friends on Facebook, and now here as well.

So what does this have to do with legal marketing? Not much. But it’s my blog.

What this really has to do with is the danger of poor (okay, shitty) customer service in the age of social media.

When you have a customer go from loyal to POd in a matter of minutes, you need to get in there and solve that problem ASAP.

While I was on the phone with George I*******, Digital Manager, I was already posting on the NOOK Facebook page and Twitter feeds about my experience. I was Googling to see if I was alone (hmmmmm, according to this, looks like the same thing happened with the last big update).

You HAVE to have a process in place that allows for a decision maker to make a decision when things are going south.

When you have a customer letting you know that she’s flaming up your Twitter and Facebook pages, it’s time to send her over to the “do what you have to do to make her happy” team.

If Barnes and Noble had chosen to eat $35 dollars tonight, I promise you, you’d have a completely different blog post, and they’d have a continued loyal customer.

But they didn’t.

Edited to add – looks like this post got picked up by White Whine, with no link to the resolution post. Here’s my follow up on how Barnes & Noble resolved the issue: Okay. I’m Satisfied.

2012
04/10
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Random Rant
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There is a time to disengage

Everybody needs a birthday hat!

I’m back from a short vacation and, looking at some online blogging I’m being looped in on, I missed a few things. And, guess what? I don’t care.

I checked out of legal marketing and checked into being a mom and a wife, and, well, a me.

I celebrated. I enjoyed. I didn’t think about you.

We went to Disneyland for my birthday, the movies (Mirror Mirror), a play (Mamma Mia!), dinner and a show (Jeff Dunham) with Nat Slavin and Cheryl Bame, and drag-queen bingo.

We made hot breakfasts, were on the go-go-go, and even stayed home in our PJs one day.

Sure I checked e-mails, and responded to a couple, but the out of office message said it all.

I’ll take care of all non-urgent matters upon my return to the office on April 4th.

It took me all day yesterday to go through my in box and handle the urgent matters.

I’m starting to work on my non urgent items.

And, at some point, I’ll flip through my reader and see what I missed.

It’s good to check out of work and your professional world, and check into your personal existence now and again, even if only for a few days. In fact, it’s a definite necessity in life.

I enjoyed it so much, I might do it again this weekend.

2012
04/05
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CATEGORY
Random Rant
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What’d that general counsel say??

I rarely miss a general counsel panel at any conference, but I did miss it last week at the Legal Marketing Association‘s annual conference.

Not to worry, the LMA Tweeters were tweeting away, and Lindsay Griffiths put together an incredible two-part recap.

Change or Die? A General Counsel Program

Part 1

Part 2

Sounds like an incredible program, and, while sorry I wasn’t in the audience, Lindsay did such  a great job in her recaps that I don’t feel as if I missed out on anything.

There were ominous warnings:

There will be new business models that come into place. We’ll build them if you won’t. We don’t need YOU to survive. We need the [legal] industry to survive.” – Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies

Key insights:

… her (Janet Dhillon of JC Penney) job is about balancing her clients’ business objectives with their legal requirements.”

Great stories:

Janet illustrated this idea of staying focused on client intelligence with a story – the day after the Christmas holiday one year, a news story broke about her company, involving a plant in a foreign country. One of their firms emailed them to let them know that they had a partner vacationing in that very country, who was on the ground to assist them if needed. Although they didn’t require his assistance, it was invaluable that the firm had taken the time to stay updated on the issues affecting the company, reach out to them to offer their assistance, and did so even during the holiday season. That has stayed with her.”

Warnings:

The traditional law firm model is dying. Get over it and understand what the new world is going to be.  There will be new business models that come into place. We’ll build them if you won’t. We don’t need YOU to survive. We need the industry to survive.”

And truths:

Quality is not a differentiator; get over it. Quality is the price of admission.”

Go back and read both posts. They’re worth the price of admission.

2012
03/23
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business of law
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Slapped upside the head with truth

Last week I was in Texas for the Legal Marketing Association‘s annual conference.

Like any conference, there were some knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark wins (keynote speaker James Kane) and there were some strike-outs.

In talking about one of the sessions that did not go as well as Jim’s, a colleague, who is a consultant to lawyers and law firms, shared:

It’s not okay to suck. Suck less.

That really resonated with me.

But, like most truths, it was followed up by a slap upside my head to make certain that I got the point:

If you, as an in-house person suck, whatever. But if I suck, my kids don’t eat.

It got me thinking. How many times have I, or one of my attorneys, rushed to get that presentation done? How many times have I waited to the last minute to do X or Y?

I’m an in-house marketing director. When I speak at a conference or event to attorneys, or fellow legal marketers, I am not there showing off my wares, balancing offering helpful information and hoping to land some work. I’m there for fun and for free. I’m there to lend a hand.

But that is not fair to the audience or the conference organizers. And it is doing NOTHING for my personal reputation.

I believe the reason that I am still fixated on Jim Kane’s presentation is that I can SEE the time and effort he put into it, and I am so impressed and appreciative of that effort.

Yeah, there were canned parts, which he delivered quite well, but at the end he 100% tailored the presentation to the audience. Not just legal marketers as a whole, but individuals in the audience including Laura Gutierrez, Mark Beese and others.

Jim got a hold of the attendee list and started Googling us. He included us in his closing slides. When he met and shook hands with us he remembered little factoids about who were were, whether or not we were in his closing slides.

Notice I keep saying “we.” Although Jim did not personally reference me, or my stellar job of selling Girl Scout cookies (thanks to everyone who bought some), I felt included because he included people I knew.

He took the time to get it right. And, as an extra “WOW,” please download the loyalty workbook he created for us.

So what to do WE do with this new truth?

Next time you are asked to speak, or meet with a potential new client, or are headed off to the beauty contest, don’t wait until the last minute.  Don’t just update your last presentation and materials. Don’t read the dossier in cab. Don’t wing it.

Do you research. Understand your audience. Take the time and effort that the people in the audience or in the meeting deserve.

Don’t just go through the motions.

Get it right. Knock it out of the ballpark. And, please, don’t suck.

2012
03/21
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Clients
Event Planning & Management
marketing me
Reputation Management
TAGS

3 comments
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