SigmaWay Blog

Unless one puts in the effort of being beside their customers they can never receive helpful word of mouth. In times of crisis if employees want to protect the company's reputation, they should instil a customer service culture, then empower staffs for making decisions, and perform properly in case of a problem. In times of crisis a briefing should be done to the frontline staffs about the crisis, which is a part of the crisis communication plan. This approach helps protecting one's reputation. Words of support from the directly affected people provides opportunity to enhance one's reputation further. There is no formula for gaining goodwill and loads of satisfied tweets and Facebook posts from customers. Frontline staffs as brand ambassadors and crisis communicators and hard work only pleases customers and satisfies them. Read more at:http://managementhelp.org/blogs/crisis-management/2010/12/13/crisis-management-customer-service/ 

Big Data has joined the crowd of millions with the fever of 2014 FIFA World Cup on. Much like the social media, marketing, advertising- big data has become important. With a whooping figure of 3.2 billion people who watched the last World Cup, this year the figure is expected to explode even further. Ronaldo's Nike shoes ad is one of the example to illustrate the growth and potential of online videos. It was seen online by 78 million people before it appeared on TV. 12.2 million tweets about the 'first-match' all during the hours match was played, depicts the social captivity of the universe. An event of this magnitude is likely to generate Big Data. The 2014 World Cup is so big that it is expected to have a negative impact on the economy of Brazil, as "major Brazilian cities have the power to grant local public holidays on the dates that World Cup matches are played". Read more at: http://www.infinitive.com/category/big-data/

Technologies, today, have enabled bank customers to make payments, track spending or move money between different accounts easily just by going online with a PC, phone or tablet. People are using popular websites like PayPal, for cheap loans and saving returns. Cash machines, ATMs have also become more advanced and multi-functional which means customers will soon be able to send money overseas, receive money transfers, purchase foreign currency and carry out transactions such as applying for loans. According to futurologists, smartphones will become mobile wallets soon enabling a customer to use discount vouchers and earn cashback on any transactions.  Banks will also have to exploit social media well i.e. listening to customers and have conversations on networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Mobile banking also helps banks to know the physical location of their customers and provide services accordingly. For example, banks might text to offer foreign currency when the customer arrives at an airport. However, new rules and improved technology have made it easier to switch current accounts and will make it even easier in future which in turn provides enough incentives for the banks to excel in technology, in all aspects of their service. Read more at:http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/moneymatters/article3925149.ece

Big Data does not necessarily mean good data. And that, as increasing number of experts are saying more insistently, Big Data does not automatically yield good analytics. As everyone realizes, bad data equates to bad intelligence, which equates to bad decision-making and thus equates to bad things happening in your business. If the data is incomplete, out of context or otherwise contaminated, it can lead to decisions that could undermine the competitiveness of an enterprise or damage the personal lives of individuals. So how do we detect that? Firstly it's important to understand where your data originates. Has it been captured by your own work force? What measures were put in place to ensure that the very best job has been done and that the data being captured lives up to expectations? What are the requirements for the data your business needs and uses daily? Do you enhance your data from other sources (external or internal)? An example of how out of context data can lead to distorted conclusions comes from Harvard University professor Gary King, director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science who was attempting to use Twitter feeds and other social media posts to predict the U.S. unemployment rate, by monitoring key words like "jobs," "unemployment," and "classifieds." To read more about the episode visit: http://www.infoworld.com/d/business-intelligence/big-data-without-good-analytics-can-lead-bad-decisions-225608.

In the present world, advertising is shifting towards digital media, and experts say that small business owners should keep up with that trend in spite of prevalence of billboards and newspapers ads. Whatever the product is, marketing the product to target customer is critical. With the limited budget advertising decisions should be taken wisely. According to Eric Schiffer (head of marketing firms' digitalmarketing.com and socialmediamarketing.com) "You can easily throw a lot of money down the drain if you don't think about the right strategy and right platforms". Owners can build a local business profile on either Facebook or Twitter, and they will be presented with buttons to "promote" or "advertise" their page. Using this process will enable the owners to identify and convert customers at far less cost compared to search based advertising. According to Sidney Smith "E-mail is still king, and building out your e-mail list is so important". Services such as ConstantContact, Vertical Response and iContact can be used to manage an e-mail marketing list. Companies uses GPS data to push coupons and deals via text messages to individuals near a store. To know more about usage of social media, e-mails, text messages and loyalty cards for advertising visit: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/small-business-guide-how-to-invest-your-digital-advertising-dollars/2014/04/20/67f5ad6c-c4a7-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html  .

There are significant opportunities to make use of big data techniques. Unlike technology and consumer retail sectors in which advanced analytics has been implemented, it can also be used in other industries like insurance, health care, banking and public sector. In insurance, data can be aggregated from public sources and specialist data providers, allowing companies to better target customers and frame policies accordingly. Banks are increasingly using big data to generate a much deeper view of their customers, combining the information collected from all of customer's interactions with bank with selective third-party data like paying patterns for mobile phone bills, tracking trends on social media platforms such as Twitter. Read more about this aspect in Dominic Barton (global managing director at McKinsey & Co.)'s article link:http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2014/03/28/sectors-where-big-data-could-make-an-impact/?KEYWORDS=analytics 

Companies can maintain customer support department to answer customer doubts and problems in social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook. Answers to customers should be quick and within few hours of posting. We can implement softwares that can be synchronized with Facebook, to manage private messages and posts, and to keep track of customer service questions & problems and also to serve requests. Some of these softwares are Sales Force Desk, Happy Fox etc. One can use the Facebook page to spread the problems associated with that particular product and other product issues. Social space provides a platform to make people aware of the product defects. It will demonstrate the business house's willingness to take responsibility for mistakes making fans aware of the present business scenario and maintaining transparency. Some brands often offer their fans monthly exclusive deals and some host frequent giveaways. To know about this aspect follow Jim Belosic (CEO of ShortStack)'s link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-customer-service-facebook/ .

This article elaborates on the sentiment analysis from tweets using data mining techniques. Instead of using SQL, it shows how to conduct such analysis using a more sophisticated software called RapidMiner. It explains how one can extract Twitter data into Google Docs spread sheet and then transfer it into a local environment utilizing two different methods. The emphasis is on how to amass a decent pool of tweets in two different ways using a service called Zapier, Google Docs and a tool called GDocBackUpCMD, along with SSIS and a little bit of C#. Zapier is used to extract Twitter feeds into Google Docs spread sheet and then copy the data across to local environment to mine it for sentiment trends. Next, it is shown how this data can be analyzed for sentiments i.e. whether a concrete Twitter feed can be considered as negative or positive. For this purpose, RapidMiner as well as two separate data sets of already pre-relegated tweets for model learning and Microsoft SQL Server for some data polishing and storage engine. Read more at:http://bicortex.com/twitter-sentiment-analysis-mining-twitter-data-using-rapidminer-part-1/

Nowadays, social media customer care represents a tremendous growing opportunity for businesses to foster strong customer relationships. According to Bianca Buckridee (presently the vice president of social media operations) JP Morgan's twitter page enables customers to see the individual with whom they are talking which in turn restores some of the intimacy and comfort that is lost in a phone conversation.   Katy Phillips, a senior analyst for American Airlines, identifies social space as an important factor which has helped them build customer loyalty and brand reputation and will continue to create some "wow'' moments for customers. In spite of such boons of social media customer care, not many businesses have exploited it. Evolve24-a Maritz Research company, found in 2011 that approximately 70% of customer service complaints made on Twitter were unanswered. The panelists at the recent Wharton Social Media Best Practices Conference believe that the percentage has not changed significantly. Read more at: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/ignored-side-social-media-customer-service/

Going viral is the new trend on social media nowadays. Companies no matter big or small wants to be part of discussion whether it relates to their product or not. To be popular, one must have interesting and creative contents to intrigue others to share them. Creating a community and perfect timing can prove crucial to be successful on the web. One must also learn to take risks and do unconventional things to be viral in the social media.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6471-going-viral-social-media-tips.html

The main reason behind Twitter’s decision to buy Soundcloud is their slow growth rate. It will help them to increase their customer base and also help them to diversify into a different platform. To know more details on how Soundcloud will help Twitter, please visit:-

http://socialmediatoday.com/prasant-naidu/2444336/why-twitter-interest-buying-soundcloud

To do any kind of marketing analysis or to decide which social media to use, good marketing research is required. It helps in taking correct marketing decisions. This article tells us more about the tools and methodology we should use to do social media market research. Read more at:

http://socialmediatoday.com/chrissyme/2444106/how-spot-good-social-media-marketing-research

Building a brand with the help of social media is an absolute necessity in the present scenario. But to do so one must have to build trust about the brand first. Expertise is also required to build your brand, because otherwise it will not succeed. Most importantly to build and maintain brand value in social media one must constantly update itself with the latest trends.

To know more please visit:-

http://socialmediatoday.com/adhutchinson/2442911/three-key-elements-build-your-brand-through-social-media

We are living in a time when we cannot ignore social media. It has become a part of our life and marketers, to stay ahead of the tough competition, are taking advantage of it more and more. This is also reflected in a survey report by eMarketer. As per the report, 777 million users in Asia Pacific have accepted social networks at a level of mainstream adoption. Yes, 777 million, and companies agree to its growing importance.

But unfortunately, few companies are able to realize the social media impact in terms of ROI. The survey also revealed that only 15% of the respondents were capable to transform the social media impact into quantifiable metrics. It is a fact that when speaking of numbers, marketers still feel uncomfortable and unable to justify its expenditure in the social media space.

What are the tips to measure and manage social media ROI? Read them at http://www.marketing-interactive.com/features/mmsg_may2014_masterreport_chapter_to-new/ .

No one can deny the fact that in recent times, social media has come in forefront when companies need to market their products and services. It has become an important channel. This has been also revealed in a survey done by Social Media Examiner. In its annual report, the findings say that marketers continue to emphasize social media and 92 percent of marketers think that social media is important for their business – a rise from 86 percent last year. Expanding business by using social media has made the winning race more competitive.

But, at a time, when the word social media is buzzing everywhere, there are some concerns. Social networking site Facebook is losing its shine. Facebook reach is declining. To stay ahead in the race, marketers must think of other platforms and strategies where they can invest.

What are they? Know them at http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233959 .

With the growth of social media, people are taking and sharing photos through their mobile devices regularly. Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of web design agency, Blue Fountain Media, said "Technology has turned us into a very visual culture...for a brand that is trying to communicate a marketing message, image-based content is becoming one of the strongest tools [to do so].” To read how photo sharing can boost social marketing, go through Nicole Fallon's, link http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6244-visual-content-marketing.html

The term big data refers to large amount of customer information gathered from social media, which helps companies to improve sales and services by analyzing those data. But unfortunately small businesses have limitations while analyzing big data. Also the huge volume of data may be confusing for small organization and some time they don't know where to begin. Social platform gathers information which can be important for organisations. Hence tools provided by Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, are a good start as they offer low start-up investment as per Evan Greenberg, CEO of marketing and communications firm Allscope Media. To read more about how big data can help businesses to think outside the box, follow Nicole Fallon's article in this link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6190-smb-big-data-tips.html

An article by Dion Hinchcliffe, Information Technology expert, talks about the deep application to organizations that made social media such a potent and popular way of communicating globally. This involves raising awareness, educating leadership, trying to figure out what department should be in charge of social business, rethinking business processes in a much more fragmented yet connected operating environment, acquiring budget as social business operations grow, measuring results, and so on. Social business has become a more powerful and effective way of operating. But it must mature to grow its relevance and effectiveness as it's situated within the realities of the contemporary organization.

To gather better insights follow http://www.zdnet.com/how-social-business-grew-up-7000029450/

 A 2012 survey by salary.com revealed that 64% of employees visited non-work related websites every day during working hours, and 61% of employees said that they spent over an hour a week on personal web usage.Employers think it is wastage of time. But, what if you could prove that social media has real value to your job?There are seven ways to use social media and get your work done easily. They are: 1. Ask for help, 2. Scout for talent, 3. Collaborate with coworkers, 4.Promote products and events, 5. Monitor customer chatter, 6. Communicate with customers, 7. Get feedback on work in progress.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2156984/7-ways-to-use-social-media-to-get-work-done.html

The defining feature of the millennial generation is technology. The millennial generation is very crucial while building a loyal customer base. The key question is how to increase millennial brand loyalty. An article by Anqi Cong, student at Carnegie Mellon University, talks about some do's regarding increasing brand loyalty.

To know in details visithttp://socialmediatoday.com/anqicong/2421456/how-increase-millennials-brand-loyalty