Disqus - Latest Comments for Becky Carroll

Re: Top 10 Customer Experience blogs

Becky Carroll — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:04:12 -0000

Thank you for including Customers Rock! in your list, Jake. I am glad to see YOU agree with the premise of the URL. ;)

Re: Your Brand Is Defined By Your Audience Expectations

Becky Carroll — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:49:36 -0000

Customer expectations are huge, whether you have a blog or a business. When you are meeting expectations, all is well. When you exceed them, you start to move to customer delight and WOM. When you miss meeting expectations, you have a lot of clean-up to do!

Re: Do You Have Happy Customers?

Becky Carroll — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:10:19 -0000

Thank you for having me talk about customer retention and Customers Rock! on the Daily Flip, Jim! I look forward to meeting you in person at BlogWorld this week.

Re: Social Media Success Plan for Beginners: 6 Hours for 6 Weeks

Becky Carroll — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:16:46 -0000

I love it, Mike! This is a great way for a person, or a small business, to get started. I assign some of this as homework for the students in my Marketing via New Media class at UCSD (they need to blog weekly).

You rock, Mike!

Re: Before you tweet

Becky Carroll — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:26:13 -0000

Great tips; I will refer my Marketing via New Media UCSD students to this post as I teach them about Twitter use for business!

Re: Global Social Media News

Becky Carroll — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:57:34 -0000

Congratulations, Scott! Great exposure for what you are working on. If you ever need input from different countries, the social media class I teach at UC San Diego has international students - Brazil, India, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, Germany, etc. Let me know!

Re: How You Can Use Social Media to Help the U.S. Auto Industry

Becky Carroll — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:27:41 -0000

Scott, thank you for opening yourself, and your company, up to the world for all to see. The conversation taking place via this post is fascinating! I see a range of loyal Ford enthusiasts, personal friends, as well as those questioning/not trusting a big brand all discussing Ford's future. This post is a great example of social media at work.

As I know you personally, I can see the passion and desire to share your story behind each word, and I appreciate and trust it. I have driven Ford cars for the last several years, and I have always found them not only reliable but great for my family. :)

Keep it up with showing the human side of Ford, and keep reaching out to consumers and sharing their stories.

Re: Twitter Vulnerabiliities

Becky Carroll — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:47:07 -0000

Great to know, Andy! In this day and age of identity theft, we need to be extra careful what we do.

Re: Redirecting WordPress.com to WordPress.org

Becky Carroll — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:28:45 -0000

Thank you for this article; it is all starting to make sense now. A few questions:

- Do you lose your Google pagerank when you do this?
- How did you get your subscribers over?
- What about links from other blogs?

Thanks for any help or advice! I have been wanting to do this for awhile now, and I think I am ready to bite the bullet.

Re: 3 Easy Ways to Treat Your Customers Right

Becky Carroll — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:46:42 -0000

Ben, thanks for the shout-out to Customers Rock! Your post is music to my ears. Sometimes it is indeed the little things that make all the difference between a positive, memorable interaction and a non-event. We want our customers to walk away thinking, Wow - I was really treated well there!

It doesn't take much - a sincere smile, an honest inquiry, or even just listening to customers (which I would add as another bullet in your list).

Keep it going, Ben. You rock!

Re: How Do You Prepare for Presentations?

Becky Carroll — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:33:29 -0000

Thanks for the shout-out to Customers Rock!, Ben. These are great tips as well. So much to remember!

Actually, the best thing to do is get a good night's sleep the night before (no alcohol or caffeine), be at the speaking venue early to check out the area where you will speak, and go get 'em!

Re: 5 Lessons in Promoting Events Using Social Media (Back to Basics)

Becky Carroll — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:59:30 -0000

I like the way you promote social media but also remind us that it is really about the relationships we build with people that makes the difference. I plan to show your blog post to my "Marketing via New Media" class (at UC San Diego), which has many international marketing students.

Let me know if you want to bring this conference to San Diego! :)

You rock!

Re: Tidbit of the Day: Age of Conversation 2 author list…so far

Becky Carroll — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:28:32 -0000

Daniel, thanks for spreading the word on the version 2.0! Glad you are joining us.

Re: Blog World Expo 2008 - Day 1 Recap

Becky Carroll — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:21:43 -0000

Thanks for the recap, John, and glad you got your own bunny ears photo with Tony! The customer loyalty panel was fun to moderate; I was pleased all the panelists accepted my invitation to speak on it. Nice summary, too!

Come on over to Customers Rock! to continue the conversation. :)

Re: A Definitive Explanation of Social Media

Becky Carroll — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:54:49 -0000

Matt, this is very clean and clear - bravo!

To add to the comments, the top circle may put some businesses off of social media. If we are taking the POV of our audience, a business that caters to other businesses doesn't want a "consumer" feel to their content. However, we usually hear more about "Consumer Generated Content" than we do "Socially Generated Content". Not sure a B2B would want to be considered social. However, they would want to have conversations with their customers. Perhaps the "shared" word is better, or how about "Conversational Content"?

Hmm, need to work on that one a bit, as all of these tools are conversational, and potentially many have great content.

Thanks again - I will most likely be taking up this debate with the social media class I am teaching at UC San Diego Extension!

Re: Is Customer Service the New Marketing? Of Course Not!

Becky Carroll — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:29:03 -0000

Hello Guarav,

Thank you for sharing your ideas, and amazing how quickly you picked up my post on this. In my blog post, I didn't actually say that customer service is marketing or should replace marketing. Here is what I said:

"Customer service is one touchpoint with the customer (albeit a very important one). The customer’s overall experience with a company needs to be consistent and planned in order to lay the foundation for optimal relationship-building opportunties."

In other words, customer service is one place customers touch a company, and as it is one of the few post-purchase points of contact, it is very important. Customer service, marketing (in all its channels), and sales all need to work hand-in-hand to coordinate their approach, language used, and look and feel in order to create a consistent customer experience. In a sense, then, all customer-facing activities are "marketing" in that they impart the brand to the customer.

I hope this helps clarify my position! Thanks again for the conversation.

Re: 2008/12/12/twitter-brands/

Becky Carroll — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:10:58 -0000

This is a great conversation around Twitter. When I talk about how to use Twitter for business in my UC San Diego class on Marketing via New Media, I tell my class the first thing a brand or business should do before starting is to listen to your customers. Listen to what people are saying about you.

Now, if you hear a lot of customer service issues on Twitter, it makes sense to have a brand's customer service team helping out via Twitter (and with the appropriate Twitter handle to match, like @comcastcares). Help the customer where they are hanging out!

If your customers on Twitter want a conversation with you (and many consumers DO want to talk with their favorite brands), then join the conversation via your brand's Twitter account. Just make sure to be a human being with them (and I agree with comments that the brand's account should be the one to use, but sub-identified with the person responding, in order to keep those relationships going).

If your customers just want a stream of company news, then that is fine, too (like Dell does with @delloutlet, which has over 2500 followers looking for deals).

I really think it depends on 1) whether customers are on Twitter, and 2) what do they want from the brand?

I look forward to more of this discussion! Thanks for getting it going, Mark.

Re: 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

Becky Carroll — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:30:26 -0000

Thanks for the great post on Twitter examples and all the hard work to pull this together. Brands using Twitter seem to be expanding every day! The best ones are really working on using this to build community, as you said. I can't wait to share this with my UCSD students later this term.

Re: 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

Becky Carroll — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:30:26 -0000

Re: 2009/02/10/oregon-trail-iphone/

Becky Carroll — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:11:47 -0000

Thanks for the info! We are already playing it on the iPod Touch, so I am glad to
hear it is coming to the iPhone, too. Fun times! :)

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Becky Carroll — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:34:57 -0000

Great set of suggestions for a brand voice on Twitter; I may roll some of these into the UC San Diego class I teach on marketing with new media (will full credit to you, of course!).

I also see some of these suggestions as great for a brand voice in any social media tool, including blogs and social networks. Being human, not promoting self too much, and most importantly, listening first are all keys to being part of a real conversation via social media, rather than just the old way of shouting at customers.

Well done!

Re: Mashable’s Weekly Social Media Event Guide

Becky Carroll — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:48:14 -0000

There is also a Cool Twitter Conference this week, July 15, in San Diego at Croce's in the Gaslamp. bit.ly/cKx50

Re: Standing on the Bedrock (Lent 2008)

Becky Carroll — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:34:28 -0000

Thank you for sharing this, Connie. It is amazing how God sees the bigger picture always and we so often forget He is in control. I have been leaning on Him heavily lately, and it makes all the difference. His promises never fail.

Blessings!

Re: Marketing is What You Do and What You Say

Becky Carroll — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:43:51 -0000

I agree with you wholeheartedly, especially on your first item of the ideal client and applying it to existing clients. As business owners, we sometimes hold on to all existing clients, maybe because they have a great brand or maybe because we used to work there! However, not all clients should be kept. It seems to me if a client is not going to be worthwhile in the long term, it may not be a client to keep. On the other hand, we should take a look at how to keep our best clients, and then go and do something for them!

Now excuse me while I go and review my client list...

Becky

Re: Using social media to market apartments. The start of a great divide?

Becky Carroll — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:15:17 -0000

Mike, thank you for the shout-out on my Customers Rock! post. Social media is so often seen as the savior, and there are certainly a lot of great things that are being done with it. I believe the most important thing is the customer relationship! If the customer wants to use social media, then you should, too.

Re: Inbox Taming for Busy People

Becky Carroll — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:56:53 -0000

Chris, congrats on taming the email beast! Quick question from a fellow Gmail user: where are you "storing" the messages you are keeping? I have always used Gmail as my storage, as there are tags and great search capabilities. Sounds like you are doing something different in order to keep the inbox to a zero...

Re: Privateers- Backing Your Pirate Ships

Becky Carroll — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:57:58 -0000

Many congrats, Chris! I look forward to seeing your unbridled success - let me know how I can help! You rock!!

Re: How Not to Be a Jerk in Facebook

Becky Carroll — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:14:04 -0000

Great tips, Chris. I have debated with changing my Facebook photo (it is my headshot I use for business!) as I have both business and personal contacts that I interact with through this site. I don't appreciate the "application spamming", as I don't want to install all those apps on my account.

I do encourage my social media marketing students to create a Facebook account and use it for class. I set up a discussion group for the class to use, which is slowly picking up pace but is a great place for dialog!

The main reason I have them create a profile there is so they can understand how it works. How can we think about building relationships with our customers via social networking sites if we don't use them ourselves? I believe it is important to be part of the customer conversation wherever they are. If it is Facebook, great! Bring it on. :)

Re: Pepsi Reaches out to Digital People in Analog

Becky Carroll — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:16:28 -0000

I think this is great - it is creating a conversation around the cans, generating buzz, and connecting to the blogosphere. I would give Pepsi a B+ for their initial efforts! We are often so quick to criticize corporations for what they are trying to do; let's applaud their efforts and hope they continue. :)

Re: Get Your Google Profile Tidied Up

Becky Carroll — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:30:26 -0000

Thanks, Chris, for pointing this out and telling us how to find the profile. I tried to backward-engineer from yours, but I couldn't quite get there!

I didn't have a profile set up, but I do now! I like it.

Re: Boarding Party

Becky Carroll — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:55:52 -0000

Chris, this will be a totally rockin' event! I just heard David Meerman Scott talk about World Wide Rave last night at Bryan Elliott's event here in San Diego, and he had the room buzzing. Also excited that Brickfish, my new gig, will be there to share ideas and hear ideas. See you soon!

Re: Relationship Building at the Speed of Batman

Becky Carroll — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:40:41 -0000

I have made more and better connections with people via social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs than I used to make by attending lots of "networking" events. The relationships are longer lasting, as they can be instantly refreshed with each new interaction.

This doesn't just work for personal relationships. It works beautifully for businesses that thrive on building relationships with their customers as a foundation for ongoing success.

I find that the best relationships are with those that I have actually connected with in some way via the offline world - met at an event, talked on the phone. Combining online and offline is magic!

Thanks for the post and the great examples, Chris.

Re: The Art of Butts in Chairs

Becky Carroll — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:12:48 -0000

When I look for conferences to attend, I look for a few things. I look for information that will help me improve what I am doing for my business and for clients. I am getting a little tired of panels, to be honest; I think I prefer to hear case studies (like the BlogWell series). I want to see what people have done, what works/doesn't, and hear about metrics/results. I also look for who else will be there so I can meet up and network with them.

The conference I just finished organizing and running, the 11th Annual AMA Cause Conference, turned out to be a huge success because we had speakers which spoke on the current needs for the attendees. This is a tough year for conferences, as you said, and especially challenging for the Cause Conference as the target attendees were non-profits (whose budgets are very tight). But it worked. People who had attended in the past helped rally those who weren't sure. Facebook and LinkedIn groups helped get people interested. Shout-outs from partners and sponsors all helped spread the word.

But the true value was in the event itself. We made sure to understand exactly what attendees wanted to hear and had our speakers tailor their talks to those topics. We set up opportunities for attendees to network with each other, share frustrations, and look for success stories. We hit directly onto their deepest concerns.

I hope these ideas and examples help! I know you will have a rockin' event!!

Re: Gooruze - A New Online Marketing Community

Becky Carroll — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:13:48 -0000

Hi Andy, thanks for the overview of Gooruze. It looks pretty cool.

Questions: how is it different from sites like MarketingProfs, which have forums, blogs, as well as seminars and articles? Also, do you know if it will interface with Facebook so we don't have to start another new "friends" list?

Of course, you may not be the right person to answer these questions, so just point me in the right direction! :-)

Thanks!!

Re: Gooruze - A New Online Marketing Community

Becky Carroll — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:05:27 -0000

Thanks, Andy - I will check it out!

Re: What have you learned in 2006? My 50… er… 100

Becky Carroll — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:28:23 -0000

Hi Doug,

Thanks for listing Customers Rock! and the Z-list again. It is a great way to start the New Year. Also, I liked your list of 50 (100), especially those entries on customer experience (ex: Starbucks and the hard chairs, all those Verizon people). It helps highlight the difference between companies who like customers versus those who really focus on the customer experience.

Re: The Long Tail of Commenting: Never Blog Alone

Becky Carroll — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:51:37 -0000

Doug,

Glad to see that CustomersRock! is sending links your way, as you have been sending folks to me as well.
Through the Z-list, I have entered a whole new community of like-minded people, and it has been great to
learn from them, including you! I will do some of my own referral analysis (easier, as my blog is
relatively new) and do some reporting soon. Thanks for the idea.

Re: AT&T Disappointed Me This Weekend, But their Employees did NOT

Becky Carroll — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:38:36 -0000

Thanks for the illustration, Doug. In my opinion, this is what happens when we tell our exmployees to be nice
but just use that as our customer strategy. No review of customer touches, no thinking through the flow of the
interaction. I call this "Random acts of CRM."

Glad to hear your daughter is feeling better!

Re: We Believe!

Becky Carroll — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:35:44 -0000

Thanks for pointing out the Christian aspect of the coaches. Not
enough is ever shared by the networks on what makes these coaches
great. I did see a story about Manning's prayers on the sidelines,
but that was probably "safe" as most people could understand that!

Thanks again!

Re: I Swear! Or should I?

Becky Carroll — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:00:01 -0000

Thanks for starting the discussion, Doug. I don't care for hearing or reading profanity, and I won't do it myself. Surely there are more eloquent ways to express oneself, even in anger. If I am reading a blogger that does it once, it won't keep me from coming back. If it becomes a habit, I would avoid that site.

Re: Hello, I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC.

Becky Carroll — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:07:35 -0000

Doug,

I love this humor! Of course, Apple is the one laughing. In the meantime, Dell has its CEO back in charge. Maybe he will re-hire the Dell Dude for their commercials to combat the Mac guy!

Re: Are you a Narcissist?

Becky Carroll — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:33:40 -0000

Great that your name was available as your domain! I think it is a very smart move. Unfortunately, Becky Carroll is a little too common, so one of the other Becky Carrolls got it ages ago. Oh, well.

Re: 5 Bizarre Tips to Double Your Productivity

Becky Carroll — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:34:59 -0000

Reading email can suck up so much time. I know some people who have to read each message as soon as they hear the "ding". I turned off my email notifier, and I read email on MY schedule. Certain times during the day are best for me to read email, answer calls, etc.

Now you didn't mention blogging, but it certainly takes up time! ;-)

Re: Rest in Peace, My Friend Mike

Becky Carroll — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:46:40 -0000

Doug, what a testimony to your friend Mike's life. Sounds like an amazing man who had quite an impact on everyone he came in touch with. Thank you for sharing your personal story and for sharing about Mike's gentle witness. I am sorry for the loss of your friend.

Re: Can Twitter really suck the life out of a brand?

Becky Carroll — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:57:42 -0000

Twitter is certainly creating a lot of waves - in certain circles. When we take a step back and look at the rest of the world, many still don't know about it (although I am sure that is changing rapidly with Oprah now on there).
I love Twitter, as it is a great way to connect up with friends, colleagues, and my favorite brands. Do I wish certain brands were on Twitter? Yes, mostly because I just wish they were listening. I think it is OK for a brand not to be on Twitter if they are listening to the conversation somewhere and are responding to their customers in the way that works best for them. Completely ignoring the conversation - that could suck the life out of a brand!

Thank you for the post, Michael - you rock!

Re: Day 10: @CompanyConvos Twitter Experiment

Becky Carroll — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:47:53 -0000

Thanks, Matt, for pointing me to your post as well. Interesting experiment; try it again in 6 months and see what happens. Better, get several of us to try it and track the results. :)

Re: Customer friendly marketing from Mint

Becky Carroll — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:32:20 -0000

Nice email from Mint; thanks for sharing! Still a bill, but they "softened" it a bit with some light humor, plus the beta invite. Well done. :)

Re: 4 x 4 Secrets About Me, And Why I’m Uncomfortable Talking About Myself

Becky Carroll — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:14:13 -0000

Ann, I am so glad you did decide to share. For me, it is a great help in getting to know the people behind the blog, especially when we are already connected as friends.

Thanks, Ann! :)

Re: New Media as Community Theater—All the World’s a Stage

Becky Carroll — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:43:24 -0000

"If you read a blog long enough, you get a clear sense of the character of the individual behind it. Blogs are honest in a way that professionals aren’t." This is what I love about participating in the blogosphere, the personal voice I get from each blogger when I read them.

I love to sing, and when I am up on stage as a singer, I do reveal a different side of myself. I think blogging and social media can help others reveal the hidden gems they have to share with the world. We all have value and something to share that at least one other person (or perhaps many!) will find helpful.

Thanks for the thought, Ann!

Re: Dancing with Bears

Becky Carroll — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:40:35 -0000

I think it is all too easy to compare ourselves to others and wonder whether we really measure up. However, each of us our own, unique voice that no one else can duplicate, and that is what makes each of us special.

You have inspired so many, Ann. Thank you for opening yourself to us and sharing where you came from.

Re: I Suspect Everyone Else Is Smarter, Better-Looking, Taller, Cooler, Cuter, Has Newer and Shinier Objects than I Do (and Is More Modest)

Becky Carroll — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:25:10 -0000

Oh, how easy it is to get pulled into "keeping up with the Joneses"! I am learning not to keep looking so often at all of those stats you mentioned, Ann, and I am feeling better for it.

I am focusing on my readers, and I got a real lift yesterday! About a month ago, I posted on the WOW I get at my bank's local branch, naming one of the tellers (first name only) and sharing how she is so focused on her customers. I saw her yesterday, and she printed out my blog post and took it to a job interview (with another branch of the same bank), saying "Look - they like my WOW!"

That made my day. :)

Re: Who Was Listening in 2008: The Results

Becky Carroll — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:20:27 -0000

One brand I think should be added is Freshbooks. They listened not just via social media but also in person! They took a road-trip across America in an RV and, along the way, stopped to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with their customers. And they didn't sit and sell at those dinners; they leaned back and just listened to their customers getting to know each other.

Freshbooks really rocks!