face2face

Face2Face – my Handheld Librarian 7 Presentation

by David Lee King on August 21, 2012

Face2Face: Using social tools to make Great Customer Connections from David King

I had the honor of giving a presentation at last week’s Handheld Librarian 7 online conference. I presented a very condensed version of my book, Face2face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections.

The presentation slides are embedded above – enjoy!

PS – earlier that day, I gave another Social Media 101 presentation at a local Goodyear plant. That was a fun group to present to – lots of questions! Here are those slides, too – just for kicks.

Tagged as: author, book, face2face, facebook, presentation, slides, social media, twitter

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My New Book – Face2Face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections

by David Lee King on August 20, 2012

My second book - Face2face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections - is out! The official “just released” date is in September, but it’s showing up in Amazon already, so I’m sharing now.

Here’s a short blurb about Face2Face:

Consumer-centric organizations know that social media can be used to engage with customers, leading to increased satisfaction and the acquisition of new customers through the power of viral marketing—yet relatively few firms are doing it well. With Face2Face, David Lee King (Designing the Digital Experience) presents a practical guide for any organization that aspires to create deep, direct, and rewarding relationships with patrons and prospects.

Going far beyond Facebook and Twitter, King demonstrates how a range of Web 2.0 tools and techniques can be used to start and sustain conversations and humanize the organization in the eyes of those it seeks to serve. He suggests ways to connect with customers using photos and video, communities and networks, and specific tools such as blogs and location services. He uses real-world examples to illustrate the do’s and don’ts of responding to criticism, and explains why and how listening, tone, human-centered site design, and measuring results are all critical components of any customer engagement strategy. (from Information Today’s page about the book).

Why did I write Face2Face?

I’ve read a lot of books on social media and the emerging social web. For the most part, they tend to focus on large, multi-national corporations like Ford, or extremely innovative startups like Hulu. Great examples of companies doing it right … but how about the small mom-and-pop shop down the street from the library? There are a TON of organizations and small businesses that have a web presence and/or a social media account set up, but they don’t really know how to use those tools to connect with customers and potential customers.

My book provides practical next steps for these organizations to start connecting with their customers in online settings. Great for libraries, non-profit organizations, small businesses … and anyone wanting to improve their social web skills!

More info:

Amazon
Information Today
My Face2Face blog posts and my book page

Enjoy!

Tagged as: author, book, face2face, facebook, social media, twitter

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Ask for Suggestions

by David Lee King on July 24, 2012

I have been thinking about ways to improve our library’s main Facebook Page. We have come up with some great ideas, but one idea was to simply ask our Facebook-using customers what THEY wanted to see in Facebook.

Here’s what we asked (find the Facebook post here):

“Hey friends, we’re doing an informal poll. What sorts of Facebook updates would you like to see more of from us? We want to hear from you regarding what library stuff you want us to post.”

And here’s what our customers said:

kid activities. MY little sister and baby would love more of that.
new movies
Event updates
Kid events!
kid events!
new e-books
New movies and books
Kids’ events!!
Best seller lists
Maybe have a librarian recommendation day, like every Tuesday (or other day) have a book or movie recommended by staff? That way we can get to “know” the staff better and learn about books/movies that we may not of thought of otherwise.
I would like to know more about the e-books.
Winners of the reading program, it would be nice to actually see they get won, even if it isn’t by me
More about the kids events, especially the teen events. Storytimes and Blockbusters get so much notice, but there are a ton of great programs slipping through the cracks!
Reminders. Like – don’t forget, sign up for tot time starts tomorrow!
Event reminders, and not just for kids events. I knew the rain barrel event was coming up, failed to put it in my planner, and missed it! I was bummed.
events for adults and kids
Upcoming events!
pictures or video shorts of people, exhibits, remodels/moves, staff, art. Something to post that makes the library come alive for us.
E- book info.
Events and the librarian recommendation is a terrific idea.
Love Tiffani’s idea of the recommendation day!

So – more event reminders, more mentions of new stuff, more recommendations from staff. More photos and videos.

Yes, we might have come to this same conclusion if we set up a committee to look into improving our Facebook Page, figured out when everyone could meet, and actually had a discussion on it. But it would have been our best guess. And it probably would have taken us 2-3 weeks – we’re a busy bunch, so meetings are a bit of a logistical challenge

Instead, we gathered these comments, for the most part, in a 3-hour timeframe in one day. And it took us maybe a few minutes to write the Facebook post. And it was from customers.

Question – are you using your organization’s Facebook Page to find out what your Facebook-using customers want to do there? If so, what are you hearing from them?

photo by Sylvain Masson

Tagged as: asking, customer, customers, face2face, facebook

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People are Human, Brands (and Organizations) not so much

by David Lee King on February 21, 2012

I recently read this post, Why your nonprofit needs a personality and NOT a brand, on John Haydon’s blog. Here’s a snippet:

“Most of the people you connect with on Facebook and Twitter are your friends. They’re people. They have personality.

And I bet that you spend 95% of your time connecting with people – not companies. And even when you do connect with a company, your best experiences are defined by the people who work at that company (think Zappos).”

Reading that made me think – how does my library work on giving our organization “personality?” How are we, as a system, acting more like people rather than an organization?

Hard question, huh?

Here’s what we’re doing (off the top of my head). What can you add to this list?

Blog-based content focused on our collection and events. Our content creators’ personalities shine through in their writing.
we include pictures and full names for every blog post. Same with our public-facing staff directory. This allows our customers to connect with actual people. And it works – I get emails and phone calls from customers wanting to talk to the “techie dude” every week.
We send staff out in the community. We do this through our bookmobiles and other vehicle-based delivery, through offsite programs and events, and through our speakers’ bureau. Again, this gives a face to the library.
We have an Ask Now button pretty much everywhere on our website and catalog that connects to IM chat reference.
We use multimedia – pictures of events, videos, etc. Visual ways to introduce staff to customers, and to make our library more personal to customers.
We share what us librarians are reading, using Goodreads and LibraryThing widgets (think staff picks – see examples here and here).
And of course, we’re using social media – Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc.

So – that’s some of the things we’re doing to create a Face2Face connection with our customers.