Steven Groves's Blog (20)

I get to consume lot of content daily and one of my sources is an email listserv that Doc Searles runs which covers the topic of 'VRM' or Vendor Relationship Mgmt (think the other half of the coin to CRM, Customer Relationship Mgmt).  The underlying premise of the discussions in the group are that consumers can, and are preparing to, control the data relationship with the vendors they choose to…

Google+ appears to be having a problem with connecting to the consumer audience out there - I want to know why.

Could it be that the brands that appeal to consumers, are not there yet enmass?  Could it be that the engagement options are limited?  Could it be that the 3rd party developer community that has made Facebook so useful is not yet invited to the party?

The answer is yes, yes, and yes - but I'm…

I guess it should be expected that as the world awaits the highly publicised Facebook IPO that Facebook-related articles would crop up like weeds.  Well, here's another one...

On the heels of my post the other day on the essential use of a social login for loyalty programs, due to consumer fatigue in having to complete yet another profile on a new site.  The study by…

Consumers love you, love your place and love your food - but why are they going to share their contact information to join your loyalty program?  Statistics suggest that many of your customers would join a program, if it were available (50-80% in other industries) but online loyalty programs I think are…

Just read about the social marketing snafu with McDonalds and the high-j****** of the #McDStories hashtag by an audience that was, well, less than flattering to the brand image.  Over at BusinessInsider.com, Gus Lubin reported on it and discussed the response from Rick Wion, their social media director - here's my take on it.…

Lisa Jennings at NRN posted last week on trends in 2012 and I swear, it looked like she'd been reading from our playbook and been briefed on our product roadmap.

Here are the highlights from her…

John Wanamaker said it to illustrate how difficult it is to reach potential customers using traditional advertising: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." 

What I think he was looking for was Closed-Loop Marketing, but the idea was not presented…

Facebook is rolling out a ton of new stuff and what it'll mean to you is pretty well lined out in a post by Jesse Stanchuk at SmartBriefs. (let me know if you need the link - FohBoh has told me that they do not allow posting links - how social is that?)

In the post Jesse says -

• This will happen again.
• This is an opportunity.
• This kind of user outrage happens every time.
• This will happen to you, too.

It's a good perspective that…

With 57% of the respondents citing that online marketing is either 'not essential to my business' or 'I don't know enough about it' but at the same time 50% declaring that Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) is essential, clearly there is a disconnect between what business people understand about social and how it…

How will the customer experience vary from visit to visit?  The ability to create a consistent and repeatable customer experience has been a formula for success for brands for decades.  The ability to manage the expectations of the consumer has led many organizations from a small start to a raving success. You might get two chances to impress a new customer, but asking…

I'm preparing to interview one of the leaders in loyalty-based customer retention and have come up with some starter questions - 

1. Loyalty has been called a tactic by some and a strategy by others.  Who's right??
2. A loyalty program is built on rewarding the customer in some way for their…

It happened to me today.  I've been 86'd from a LinkedIn group focusing on independent restaurant marketing.   It's probably been coming for a long time though. 

In my efforts since beginning in online and social marketing, I've always approached the question with glasses tinted in ROI.  I've always…

We're all bound by ideals, beliefs and myths around what we think is true.  We take a look at "8 Myths of Social Media for Restaurants" in this post.  We assembled the list, in no specific order from anecdotal sources; conversations and ongoing industry research. 

Love, LOVE, love - (or at least strongly like) coming across data like that posted in the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Review from the really smart people at Social Media Examiner. 

In it they cover so many things that online marketers should know.  We've highlighted about 9 of…

It seems to be an underpinning of many solutions introduced to the market that in order to leverage the technology, there seems to be some expectation that consumers will somehow alter their usual behavior.  Not a bad thought and yes, I think some marketing activities can alter a consumers usual behavior, but how far do you think we (as an industry) can expect it to…

Does the consumer have a say in the online world?  You bet!  Look at how social media has exploded!

Does the consumer have a say in what data you track about them? umm... I guess so... I dunno?!

The Big Issue

Here is one of the great debate now…

It's a mixed blessing to have a dining room full, but full of people who paid .20 cents on the dollar for the meal in front of them, drink water and tip poorly.

Discounting your product and service to the market is, as many restaurants have found, not always the best way to drive traffic - particularly if all they come in for is the discount offer, nothing else on…

What a riot!  Other than Southwest Airlines, the safety briefing on an airline is a reasons to tune out before you takeoff (you shouldn't - but hey... after about a hundred of these it's hard to pay attention sometimes).

Air New Zealand came up with this video that combines humor and safety to remind passengers.  Whats the lesson learned? 1) try not to take yourself too seriously and 2) be creative in your engagement to connect to your audience. 

The video has earned more than…