CES 2012: Lots of people, new technology

Are You Verizon Me?

Today, it would be too easy to write about the Change.org petition that got more than 100,000 online signatures in 24 hours. I could go on forever about how social media is changing the balance of power between corporations and consumers.

Instead, I’d like to ask this simple question: what in the hell did you think would happen, Verizon?

As a small business, my customers can fairly easily choose from a variety of suppliers. We have to do great work and we sure can’t piss our clients off. I can’t even consider doing something like adding a $2 “convenience fee” to my invoices. I’d like to think I wouldn’t even consider it even if I could get away with it. However, large companies — who often have their consumers tied up in contracts — do things like this all the time. Social media is now giving “us masses” a tool to fight back.

But seriously. Why? What were you thinking? And how many Verizon people OK’d such absurdity?

Verizon was profitable last year. It’s not like this was critical in order to stay afloat. Credit card fees are hard on businesses of all sizes, but it’s a cost of doing business that has to be baked in to your fees. I just can’t wrap my mind around the meeting(s) at Verizon that spawned this brain dead policy and unleashed it on their customers (and yes, less than 24 hours later, Verizon wised up).

Maybe the meeting went something like this:

Executive #1: Here’s an idea. Let’s charge people to pay us. That could be worth millions in pure profit each month.

Executive #2: I like it. What do you think our customers will say?

Executive #1: It will be fine. The PR department (Note: I’ll pick on my own for a minute here) recommended we call it a “convenience fee.” Everyone understands you have to pay for convenience. People will be happy to pay for the convenience of paying their bills.

Executive #2: Brilliant!

Kidding aside, dealing with paper checks is expensive. You have to pay people to handle them, work with overdraft issues, etc. Yet, a company run by highly compensated telecom veterans was ready to drive people back into the arms of paper checks, envelops and stamps. 1992 called: it wants it’s preferred payment method back.

Before our collective ability to raise holy hell online, this may have (a) actually stuck and (b) been picked up by the other three major carriers. Personally, I hope the true impact of social media takes us beyond our ability to push back and actually encourages business leaders to think through such ridiculous ideas and kill them in the conference rooms in which they are spawned. I’m a Verizon customer. I like the service a lot. But this is so dumb it’s offensive.

12/30/11: Common Sense-1, Verizon-0.

Ooops.

Contrary to popular belief: interns should handle your company’s social media

image by tome213

At least once a week I see a tweet about how interns should not be doing a company’s social media. Many people can cite the epic Marc Jacobs intern Twitter meltdown as a reason, but the major argument against an intern creating strategy for your social media campaign is that they don’t know enough about your company and its story.

It’s a valid point. Perhaps instead of an intern dictating strategy for a social media campaign, the happy medium is to have them handle the execution under your watchful eye.

If you have an intern and they understand social networks, you can help guide them by providing essential insight about the company, and they can execute the strategy by doing the labor-intensive work of posting social media at your direction. Not only are they learning about your company and industry, but they’re also finding out first hand how a social media strategy plays out. You may even find that their day-to-day interaction on social networks can yield new insights and ideas to improve your existing strategy.

Years ago, when I was an English teacher, I recognized that every day I learned just as much from my students as they did from me. Not just things like how ‘Solja Boy is totally not cool anymore,’ or how high schoolers really don’t like reading poetry, but I learned how a younger generation was viewing and experiencing the world. Observing their literacy of the world influenced how I approached increasing their literacy of the written word.

Remember that the younger generation has some great insight that is often dismissed due to their age and inexperience. Don’t think of an intern as someone you can simply delegate responsibility to. Instead, provide additional guidance and supervision for them to be successful. If you want to stay in control of your message and how your company is represented in the social media world, stay involved, direct the strategy, but by all means, let the younger generation take the reins and do the work. You can learn a thing or two at the same time, while keeping your eye on the bigger picture.

Is my hard work really going to pay off?

Recently, Forbes Magazine featured a story titled, “Why Millennial Women Are Burning Out At Work By 30.” I am nowhere near 30 but I still found this alarming, and somewhat familiar. Busy young women are turning to prescription drugs and therapy just to get through their work days. I’m a Millennial Woman, and I have worked really hard to put myself in a position to have a successful career. Now, all of a sudden, I find out that all this hard work might be putting me at risk, and not pay off in the long run! My dad always told me that dedication and tenacity will reap rewards, but now I am not so sure.

Penn State scandal: What not to do in a crisis

The information coming out of Penn State becomes more disturbing by the hour. At this point, Jerry Sandusky is facing 40 criminal counts for sexually abusing children. Football coach Joe Paterno has been fired. Graham Spanier, one of the nation’s longest-serving and highest-paid university presidents, voluntarily resigned, and will no longer serve on the board US Steel.

Two high-ranking university officials, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, are currently facing perjury charges and investigations to determine what they knew when, and if this was one big cover-up that spanned decades.

Metzger 20th Anniversary Party – Save the Date!

Starting in 1991, Metzger Associates was one of the nation’s first high-tech public relations agencies – and one of the last left thriving after the decline of traditional media. From the first websites to the first social media campaigns, we’ve re-invented our team in 2011 to become one of the first fully integrated digital communications firms.

After making a little history and leading the evolution of public relations and digital marketing for the last 20 years, it’s time to…. Party!

So, if you’re reading this, you probably have had something to do with our success, so that’s as good an excuse as any to say: You’re invited!

December 8^th, Thursday, 6p.m. at our offices: 5733 Central Avenue, Boulder 80301. Please rsvp to Jill Thompson (jthompson@metzger.com) or Marie Rotter (mrotter@metzger.com) with your name and number of guests.

Do Google Plus Business Pages Affect SEO?

Put your data where your mouth is

The SEO community has been quick to proclaim that Google+ Business Pages will be good for a company website’s SEO:

Use Google Plus for your business website and you will be guaranteed to see an increase in your SEO rankings.

-Zachary Williamson

Google will obviously monitor activity and relevant keywords on a Google Plus brand page. This can only help to improve a business’ Search Engine Optimization.

-60 Second Marketer

It’s too early to tell exactly how this will affect rankings, but it’s safe to assume it will.

-Chad Pollitt

Is it safe to assume it will? READ MORE