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Last week I met Elaine McCulloch of VIA Rail at the ACTE PowerTalk in Toronto. Elaine guided participants through a thoughtful discussion on using Facebook in business. Elaine is....tadaaa...drum roll....bte's first guest blogger. Here's what Elaine and those in her sessions had to say about Facebook in the business world.
A GREAT DAY TO ENGAGE (written Wednesday September 21, 2011)
I have to admit, when I was asked to speak at the ACTE Power Talk as a social media "expert" I felt a little inferior for that title. I follow all the Social Media (SM) gurus. I certainly don't consider myself one.
But as it is with all new technologies, the early adopters (or tech nerds) in the office, quickly become the subject matter experts. For those of us who love and embrace technology, we tend to forget that some people are new to all of this and they need somewhere to start. I would like to acknowledge ACTE for recognizing this and for providing a fantastic informal discussion style forum that was able to bring a novice up to speed and a savvy SM user up to date.
We are all on this social media learning curve. Some of us just want to be on it more than others, but all of us in the travel industry must embrace it. Our customers are showing up, and they expect us to be there, waiting for them.
I borrowed my favourite analogy from a well known SM guru, "Social media is like a cocktail party. If you show up - you better be ready to engage". Our customers are out there talking to us, and we better be ready to respond.
I thought a great way to begin the Facebook round-table conversation would be to talk about online identities and personas. It seems with every new social media application, I find myself making the decision of what my identity will be on it (Business, Family, Friends) and who I will engage with it (Business, Family Friends).
LinkedIn is easy - it's business. But Facebook is a bit trickier. Most of us are using Facebook for personal use, and leaving the Facebook company webpage to their communications team, agency or community manager to deal with. But what you need to know is that even though you may not be using Facebook for business, your employees and customers are.
When people travel they have experiences. Some will be wonderful and some will not. For the novice social media user, that wants to "express their experience" to your company or brand (and to their entire online network) your Facebook page will likely be the first place that they go. If they are a little more savvy, it will likely appear on Twitter. For the super-savvy user, their sentiments, both good and bad will appear across all their networks - and that could easily extend to thousands of people.
Facebook pages are easy to find, easy to comment on and very public with the response. What are the key things that our Facebook managers should be doing?
- Responding
- Responding quickly
- Responding accurately
- Providing relevant information and interesting content
A great little exercise I suggested yesterday was to put yourself in a traveller's shoes and send a message to your own company's Facebook page or Twitter feed. I did this myself. I was boarding a train in Montreal and tweeted from my personal account "VIA-Rail Hi there, I'm boarding Train 61. Does anyone know what's for dinner?". In 6 minutes I was sent a tweet that said "Hello Elaine, tonight we are offering Shrimp or Chicken with chocolate mousse for dessert - bon appetite!". They didn't know I was an employee. I was impressed and relieved that our customers got such timely and informative dialogue.
What can your company's Facebook page do for you? There are a lot of great analytics that are easily accessed by the administrator of your Facebook page. If you are in a sales or marketing function, it would be worthwhile to find out who's engaged. You may need to talk to them one day!
And what happens when worlds collide? When your boss sends you the dreaded Facebook Friend request? Most people yesterday suggested to ignore the Facebook request and quickly send a LinkedIn request, or send them an invitation to sign up for Google+!
There is a lot to learn for all of us. We just have to keep helping each other. I hope I was able to pass along some tips to make the journey a little easier.
Thank you ACTE for inviting me. Thanks to LA for allowing me to guest blog.
Elaine MCulloch, VIA Rail Canada, @LAINEYMCX
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