Eva Dale having Chrismas brunch. #family

Posted via web from Hutch's posterous

True North, Strong, and Social

When Canadians meet, we often talk about the weather. Apparently, we talk about other things as well - online - a lot.

Research published this week confirms how critical it is for Canadian marketers to pay attention and get busy with their Social Media strategy:



1. Nate Elliot, a Forrester researcher, wrote a summary based on their Technographic research data. One of his high-level conclusions: "Canadians are the most active social networkers in any market we survey"

2. A thought-provoking visualization of global Social Media usage by trendstream and lightspeedresearch. China, the US, India and Brazil lead the way in volume. But, if you look at the percentages, Canada is right up there, particularly for Social Networking. (China has the most bloggers - political and cultural reasons(?) that I would like to research further).

These numbers should make marketers take pause and get our collective act together. As Blast said a couple of years ago, whether you market in the True North or not, "It means customers are lIstenIng to each other rather than you."

Makes sense, eh?

Opium for the Masses

Can't talk. Busy reading Drucker and reviewing recent posts by Social Web experts. I'm exercising my cortex because it shall soon be called upon. I'd like to ensure that I don't need to be spotted.

My first day at Critical Mass was a bit pedantic, as expected.
But near the end of the day, with introductions made, credentials established, there were inklings of heady and productive things to come. I'm not certain what I'll be doing exactly, but there is one thing definite: This place is full of passionate, energetic, and intelligent folks.

Something wonderful. I'm in.

Goodnight, and thanks for the (Bob The) Fish

Tomorrow is my last day at Rare Method. So, a few thoughts:

• I'm thankful in particular to Tom, Geoff and Dave for giving me the opportunity to work with them and for the chance to give back to the advertising game here in Calgary
• I've been fortunate enough to work on some great accounts with savvy people, and I dare say, make their lives as marketers a little easier. So, Thank You.
  
• The most difficult part about moving on is leaving behind the day-to-day interaction and collaboration with smart folks and friends. Heitmann and Komery, I'm looking in your direction...

That said, I'm looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead and to join another proven, respected, and intelligent team.

As a ghost, I'll see you all in the not so distant future.

With that, a dear and familiar blessing:

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

The Customer is Always Right

If you have parents of a certain age, or have ever worked retail, you've no doubt had this axiom drilled into you. Ever had such bad service that you stormed out of somewhere screaming at the top of your lungs, "I will never set foot in this f**king place again!"? Been there, done that. Difference - now I can tell many more about this, not just word of (foul) mouth.

Last week was World Usability Day and I've been keeping an eye on personal (cross-channel) user and customer experiences since then.




Lowlights (with grades):

• New Visa card with PIN arrives in mail. 45 min. on the phone to get the thing activated THEN I still have to go to the branch to change the PIN. (D).
• iPhone purchase (B+) at an actual retail store, activation [I had to make 3 calls on how to switch out my PIN card and activate with iTunes] (C-). Now that I have it working, customer delight (A).
• Mikael was trying to cook some pasta the other night and there was no cooking time on the package (F).

Brandon Schauer's recent post on the nexus of Brand and Customer Experience, paired with heady the stuff of The Brand Gap and the evidence from Razorfish's FEED report are all saying the same thing. Your customer is always right, whether you like it or not, and your Brand can be adversely affected, slandered, or outright abandoned for a competitor.

Of course, depending on switching costs, a customer may persist with your Brand, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it. The key difference now is that they have a voice to make their displeasure heard - and don't doubt that they'll use it.

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

Some more timely, relevant and powerful statistics from Eric Qualman.

Again with the Teaching

I was fortunate enough last year to teach a course in Internet Marketing at the University of Calgary with Jeff Nelson from Anduro Marketing. I learned yesterday that we get to do it again.

It works out to about $10/hr, which is obviously not the reason I do it. I find it rewarding to take complex subjects and concepts and distill them down into digestible and actionable pieces. It's also a terrific way to keep current and to learn from others. I'm looking forward to it.

Details:

Internet Marketing - Course # BMC - 203 - 003
University of Calgary, Faculty of Continuing Education
2009/2010 Business and Professional Programs
Link

Anyone reading this likely doesn't need to take this course, but if you know someone who does, please pass this along.