Sizzle! Posts

The Art of Conversation, How Does It Work Online?

by Kas Kunz

If you're online every week and regularly visit online news Web sites or surf the Web in general you've probably seen or read about Twitter. You might even be using their service.

If you're not familiar with Twitter, it's a free online service started in March 2006. Within the last year its grown in popularity and gained a large number of users and media attention. According to it's Web site it's a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter puts a 140 character limitation on answering the question. You can send them through mobile texting, instant message or the Web. You choose different individuals to follow their tweets (comments)with their permission and vice versa. The tweets are mostly public and can be connected to display in blogs, Facebook, and other online accounts you might have. It's real easy to let everyone know what you'e doing... simple enough.

Not everyone that uses Twitter is just answering the question: What are you doing? They're also letting you know their thoughts, ideas, and giving you a heads-up about something or answering a question. And this additional use of Twitter has made it a very valuable resource to get answers and help in a variety of areas.

For business use some have direct conversations with customers, with the goal of helping them when they "tweet" about a problem they're having with their company. These exchanges have resulted in great customer service experiences for the customer. Others have used it to let their "followers" know about promotions or specials. At events such as conferences it's been a great way for groups to network by putting the word out where everyone is getting together. And some use it to make business or professional connections but are okay with giving personal details about waiting in an airport, they're at lunch, and so forth. In all fairness family and friends might want to know this or a person you're scheduled to meet. But if most of your followers and the ones who follow you are business oriented... and you randomly put it out there I'm eating a cheeseburger, you might reconsider. On the other hand if you're traveling and would like information on a place you've never been to before, its proven to be a great resource to get answers. And you might make a connection you would not have otherwise over something as simple as... where to eat.    

With Twitter, if you choose to, you can give others a minutiae view into your world. As with every social connection whether it's through technology or in person paying attention to others response to how you are communicating with them is essential to make a positive connection.  

Some of your communications will get kudos others will get push-backs. Online it's easy to loose sight of how you're coming across and who might be listening. One good check is to make sure you're doing your fair share of listening!

The video below, produced by LandlineTV.com, is a fun — over the top, irreverent look at the unknown response you might be getting by how you answer the question: What are you doing?

What are your thoughts on the art of business conversations online and experiences you can share?

Happy Twentieth Birthday World Wide Web!

by Kas Kunz

Twenty years ago this month was the start of what is now the World Wide Web. While the development of the Internet started in the 50s, the Web didn't come about until the late 80s. In March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee proposed a system of connecting information that would use the Internet plus a simple address system. The goal was to make it easy to share information. In 1993 the Mosaic Web browser was created which made the Web available to PC and Mac users. Now, there are approximately 80 million Web sites with over a billion people sharing information all over the world. That's a lot of information being shared!

This ability to share information is part of what fuels the knowledge breakthroughs we experience at such a rapid-fire pace. Every 2 to 3 years the Internet and Web goes through a metamorphosis which changes how it's used. What does this mean in how you market your business?

The Internet and Web is the largest communications pipeline in history. Over the last twenty years it's moved beyond the exclusive use of research centers, universities, and governments into the everyday lives of the general population. It's a center point of communications with mobile devices which taps into voice, email, Web sites, text, music, video, podcasts (radio type shows), social connections, and more, and the same through computers. The old fashion written word has gained prominence with a readership that has moved online with print publications and blogs. Some variations of these have percolated for a long time and matured with use while others have come about and grown in acceptance in the last 2 to 3 years. This means figuring out how to use the Internet and the Web is one BIG ongoing experiment for everyone.

Technology with the Internet and Web has acquired a more human touch in how it's used to communicate. And with this online communication pipeline the shift of control has passed to the individual. With this shift of control it's important for your business to learn how to have meaningful conversations with the goal to turn them into productive connections for both parties. Lot's of experimenting to learn how to tap into this pipeline is the key for your business.

What online hit or miss business experiments can you share with us and what suggestions do you have for businesses to learn how to make productive connections online?

Are You Fluent in Acronyms, Text Messaging — Real Talk?

by Kas Kunz

Over the last 30 years a mind-boggling amount of acronyms has sprung-up around technology, business, and marketing. Mobile devices with their small screen size has created the need for abbreviations — hence text messaging. All of this is used in personal and business communications of all types. Assuming that everyone understands these terms is not a safe bet.

One trend I appreciate and has far reaching benefits for any business — communications is becoming real again. Acronym, jargon-filled corporate speak isn't what it's cracked up to be and often hurts your credibility. The use of acronyms and jargon has its place, use it sparingly if you want to connect to your audience.

I used to keep thick spiral bound glossaries of technical acronyms. I've progressed. One of my go-to-places when I need a language translator for acronyms, text messaging, and other assorted jargon is NetLingo.

What are your special go-to-places for your business and education?

A Call to be Human!

by Jane Betters

Over the last week I've moved my offices from one location to another. That meant contracting a mover, porting phone numbers and DSL and installing at the new office, changing utilities and a lot of sweat labor! What I found was the good - and the bad - of customer service. Let me count the ways!

• BAD - a 'select a shipper' site that wouldn't let you communicate through email or phone with the mover until you accepted their bid. Scary. Wouldn't do it again, though I was lucky.
• GOOD - a mover who always had a smile, a good word and did an excellent job
• BAD - a major phone company who didn't tell me in advance that porting my numbers over (same company, same area) would mean my Internet would be down for a WEEK and had to come out twice to get the jacks wired correctly.
• BAD - a big box electronics store - almost empty - where I 'interrupted' 2 employees chatting with a couple of phone and computer questions. I was sent to their 'computer geeks' and told it was either a hardware or a software problem (oh really?) and they'd need to do the full blown $199 diagnostic. I went back and rebooted and it was fixed.
• BAD - over 4 hours in one day on the phone trying to get DSL to work. Being told by a tech - "maybe you should go to an Internet cafe". Where might I find one of those in Dallas! Especially lugging an iMac!

I've had plenty of time to think about these interactions and I observed 3 things that could make the world a happier place:

1. Listen! In two instances I had phone technical support argue with me over things that were right in front of me. . . one example, the tech said I could not possibly be connected directly from a modem to a computer - there had to be a router in the middle. I told him multiple times that I was sitting there staring at the connection and there was no router involved. Arghhh! I finally laughed and he did too! I'm still not laughing at the other instance, too complicated to discuss - plus I don't want to relive it!
2. Be real! That goes for the customer as well as those in customer service. We all get stressed. We all can lose patience. But a kind, empathetic voice delivering bad news - like "it will be a week before you get Internet" - makes an enormous difference over a cold, robotic, script-reading voice that lacks humanity.
3. Remember the Golden Rule! Do to others as you'd want them to do to you. Wow. All these interactions were between people. Each of us wants to be noticed, to be heard - especially during trying situations. 

So, here is the good news. There is an amazing opportunity to keep customers and gain new ones - just by being human. By caring. By going that extra step. By putting yourself in the place of your customer. And customers, remember that you have an opportunity too. To be a bright spot in a day of complaints and problems. We're in this together! Let's make the most of every moment - every interaction. You may just make someone's day!

Covered Wagons to the Moon to World Wide Communications — What a Trip!

by Kas Kunz

We're unique right now in terms of technology and what's taken place over the course of 3 to 4 generations that was personally connected. My grandparents were born in the late 1800's at a time when a lot of the base knowledge for the technology we use today became understood and the springboard to new breakthroughs. Whole industries and marketing disciplines came into existence with these discoveries and evolved over these 3 to 4 generations.

I will never forget a conversation I had with my brother-in-law's grandmother. She talked   about when she was 10 years old and remembering her family's move riding in a covered wagon. Here is an individual who went from transportation by covered wagon to seeing man land on the moon!

My grandmother homesteaded. We have family photos of my grandparent's teams of horses they used for farming. My mother, and her brothers and sisters have talked about what it was like to use horses to farm and the difference when they began using tractors.

My parents have shared stories about their families and relatives buying their first car. Don’t confuse that with families buying their first car today. The family’s first car they are referring to is post horse drawn transportation.

 

My mother is an avid radio listener, having grown up with radio as the “TV” of her generation. She remembers President Roosevelt’s fireside chat radio broadcasts. She has passed her love of radio onto her grandson. I’m fascinated by his reaction to her explaining what radio was like when she was growing up. Talk about watching a living history lesson!

 

I’ve experienced the arrival of TV the way we know it today. From fuzzy black and white to the first color television, which was really no more than a color glow, to the high definition version today showing everything in incredible detail as if you’re there.  

 

I went from learning to type on a manual typewriter that is considered a museum piece today to being connected to the world through the Internet and the Web.

 

My niece talks about how many frames per second her sophisticated SLR digital camera can shoot still photos – compared to her grandfather telling of her Great Uncle’s camera. His was practically setting up a dark room just to take a single still photo... his displeasure of missing the shot! My niece has never experienced taking rolls of film to a store to get them developed.

 

My niece and nephew have never known a world without radio, television, computers or cell phones. They have grown up with the Internet.

 

What a trip! It hasn’t slowed down – it keeps building on new breakthroughs and changes on shorter and shorter cycles. Even with all of these monumental discoveries the human need to make a connection is still there. Each new available use of technology introduces a new learning curve on a personal and business level, requiring new marketing perceptions to be uncovered.

 

Where and how does the traditional offline marketing and new digital marketing mix? It depends on who you need to be talking with – I’ve learned not to assume anything. 

 

What are your experiences with different generations in the use of technology and your thoughts on connecting with such a diverse group?