It’s often the random everyday experiences that inspire me the most. Today I had one of those moments while grabbing a quick lunch at Chick-Fila. There was an older gentleman who was behind me that had just received a vanilla milkshake he ordered. The man approached the counter very discontent, looked at the cashier, and loudly proclaimed that there had not been a cherry put on top of his vanilla shake. The women at the counter quickly responded and had a cherry placed on top of the man’s shake. His entire expression immediately changed and he walked away a happy customer. What stuck with me is how this very small detail that likely seemed trivial to everyone around the man broke the entire milkshake experience for the man. It’s important to remember that in any customer facing role the small detail that way seem pointless to you could potentially define the entire experience for your customer.

I have been thinking a lot lately about all the different touch points I have with a brand before making a purchase decision. This graph is an attempt at defining that experience. What do you think? How does this map to the influences you encounter when making a purchase?

There has been a gold rush of marketers moving into the social media sphere seeking their claim and fortune. Where I think many people fail is that they assume old models will work and they do not take time to understand the social dynamics of the medium. With blogs specially, many a marketer and PR profession has rushed in to spread their word without considering the inhabitants that exist there. In an effort to help people, I would like to share two pieces that I believe paint an interesting picture of the people that author blogs. The first article is from the NY Times Magazine and is about a blogger named Emily Gould. Gould made the interesting transition from personal blogger to writing for the infamous Gawker and shares her experiences with being a part of the online conversation. Second, is a piece from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication that explores the interpersonal nature of blogs and how people use blogs to enhance existing relationships. I hope this and interesting reading and hopefully some valuable learning.

The campaign is dying, yet most marketing operations are still setup to think in terms of campaigns. CMO, “For Q1 we will have an integrated campaign that will be a cross-channel effort incorporating TV, digital, and outdoor around our new positioning of being the world’s most refreshing beverage.” The problem with this approach and with campaigns is that the very nature of word implies that there is a beginning and an end. In the new model of communications this does not translate because consumers are growing accustomed to continuous engagement on their own terms. Furthermore, with data storage and the power of search nothing really ever ends. Marketing departments need to work across the organization to organize in way that is able to evolve to constantly changing conditions. Brands and customer experiences are living breathing things that need to be nurtured. They require the marketer to constantly adapt to the environment switching quickly between listening, talking, responding, creating, participating, and collaborating.

This story about Condé Nast has expanded Wired Digital unit caught my eye not because of the actual headline, but due to the following line:

“Technology news and review site Ars Technica, founded in 1998 by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes, logs about 1.5 million unique visitors a month, according to ComScore. The site’s internal data puts that number closer to 4.5 million, according to Condé Nast. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.”

How is it possible that ComScore’s data is different by 3 million unique visitors? Seriously, I understand that there is reasonable margin of difference, but 3 million?! If the value of company is being determined or business decisions are being made with this data there is a real problem.

Here are a few recent examples of brands successful swimming in the social waters:

- Whitney Drake, Ford’s Global Communications Manager on using social media at Ford

- H&R Block using a wide variety of social media tactics

As more corporations warm up to the idea of social media in their marketing mix, the idea of community management seems to be spreading. Many fortune 500 companies are establishing the position of community manager in their organizations and formalizing how they monitor the online conversation. While I applaud this movement, there seems to be something amiss in the approach. The idea of managing a community feels as if it has grown out of a powerhouse PR agency. I keep imaging a wood paneled social media war room where managers spit out consultant buzzwords about managing the buzz. As an alternative, I think companies should approach working with the community like a concierge works with a guest at a luxury hotel. Listen and observe the customers behavior in order to meet their needs thus providing an enjoyable experience. Think less management and more service to the customers.

Question: What are some ways you can use existing online tools to better serve your customers?

I have a confession to make: despite what I may preach about the need to create useful websites, I have played my part in creating many microsites. Microsites are the flashy, long loading, award winning objects that brands love to buy and agencies love to sell. Their usefulness is mostly left unquestioned and ROI can be covered up in mixed cocktail of web metrics that no one really knows how to understand (time spent on site??). Which begs the question, what would happen if an agency had been asked to make Craigslist? Client: “ I want a bland white page of blue text hyperlinks that has a target limited only to those wishing to buy and sell.” I can see myself now, joking about the stupidity of another client that just does not understand the internet. So, what’s the lesson? Useful websites that help brands may not always be what you think they are. They may not use the latest tactics, be social, or have a rich media component. They may just be useful.

I have thought for some time that web analytics are extremely misunderstood and misused by most online marketers. Visits and page views rarely matchup between different analytics vendors and often become a completely different picture when compared to data from panel based metric vendors like comScore. It amazes me how many different interpretations of customer behavior can be made from the same set of data. While I by no means have a solution, I have recently discovered a whitepaper from Web Analytics Demystified guru Eric T. Peterson that sheds some new light. The whitepaper titled The Voice of Customer: Qualitative Data as a Critical Input to Web Site Optimization makes some very interesting points about incorporating more qualitative data with the quantitative data provided by web analytics. The point that really stuck out to me is that “Web Analytics systems commonly used to understand site visitors are limited by their inability to describe subtle human behavior.” I firmly believe that as more dollars move to the digital channel people are going to start waking up to the short comings of current analytics systems and the analysis of the data. There is a great competitive advantage to people and agencies that address this issue now instead of reactively when it’s too late.

I have been noticing that a number of luxury brands have recently gone down the branded content path in the form of online videos. Most recently I have seen creations for both Ritz-Carlton and Cartier. While this is no by no means new for luxury brands (think BMW films & No. 5 The Film , I do believe it is an effective use of the online medium. Luxury brands are by nature elusive objects. The stories being told in these videos brings to life a world that is drenched in fantasy and begs the consumer to dream. Call it engagement if you like, but what is really happening is that the brands are sparking dreams.