What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Google!

So, I was smart enough to do something for work a year ago that I hadn't done for myself until today--GOOGLE ALERTS. Great things, really, but for some reason had never thought to do them for my name and blog. It all goes back to how Randy and Spence talked about branding yourself.

I love branding, why didn't I think about this sooner? hmmm....
If I already received Google Alerts, I would have discovered several neat things about my social media "conversation" yesterday. First, one of my social media heroes @GailHyatt RT'ed me. I knew that from Twitter but I also would have seen it in my Google Alerts if I got them before today. Second, two (count them TWO) CEO's tweeted AND posted a link to my blog from theirs. That must explain the spike in my blog views from 20 to almost 200 yesterday. I was also tweeted by six complete strangers which I found out about on this neat little site called Tweet Meme. I'm still not exactly sure what this site is but it looks interesting. Anyone familiar with it?

Monitoring your web presense is also essential for businesses and non-profits. If Etapestry and FristGiving didn't moniter theirs, they would have no idea about a disgruntled customer from a little non-profit in Nashville. And who would have thought they'd care? But they were watch and they did care. That situation is completely worked out now and I can say with 100% certainty that it wouldn't be if it weren't for Twitter.

Tomorrow, I should recieve Google Alert e-mails for "Mandy Singleton," "mandycsingleton," "mandycsingleton.blogspot.com," and "Mandy C. Singleton." We'll see how that goes. Now I just have to keep writing, doing and being interesting so there's actually a reason for an alert!

Do you have Google Alerts and how else do you manage your brand and web presence?

An Explanation of "Twitterstand"

I used this word in my post last night and some people have asked about it so I thought I'd post the video that I got it from. This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen and the source of the word "Twitterstand." Enjoy!

Now I Twitterstand, Thanks Etapestry!

I'm a believer. Never again will I underestimate the power of Twitter! Yesterday at my day job, I hit a wall with our online fundraising website, FirstGiving, that we're using for our fall event. I called our rep at FirstGiving to trouble shoot and was told that the problem was our donor database company. I was furious because this issue was the very reason that we are using FirstGiving this year. So, what did I do? I tweeted about it--just once. This is what I said:

"Etapestry has ruined my day and I will not forget this!!!!"

There were seven comments on Facebook about it (since my Twitter Updates my Facebook) and I thought that we would just deal with the problem internally. This morning, however, I had an e-mail and my co-worker who manages our Etapestry database had an e-mail and a voicemail. Someone from Etapestry saw the disgruntled tweet and tracked my work information down even though I tweeted from my personal account. That's impressive people.

My co-worker and I exchanged some e-mails and even had a little conference call with Etapestry today and pretty much figured out that FirstGiving had maybe not been completely honest with us. Very not cool FirstGiving. The customer service at Etapestry was excellent and it's really interesting because several of the comments I got both yesterday and today on Facebook were very positive about Etap and people were shocked that I was unhappy with them (which I was obviously wrong about).

I think that there are some great lessons in here:

1. Even the UGLIEST truth is better than a lie. Firstgiving has lost my trust and that's a very difficult thing to earn back once it's lost. I'm a very loyal customer typically and they had been great up to this point. I had suggested them to multiple non-profits and commended their excellent customer service, helpful website and convenience. None of that is as important to me as their honesty though so they may have lost a customer over it. In the end, we may find that FirstGiving didn't mislead us but someone did so is that worth it?

2. Twitter is a powerful tool, don't ignore it. If Etapestry had not made the commitment to monitor and respond to their social media, I would be sitting here tonight wondering why they make my life so difficult. Because my event also isn't for another two months, I probably would have continued to tweet about it until at least then if not longer and possibly influencing other people to have a negative opinion of them. Etapestry is also now aware of a pretty serious problem: their competitor is lying to their customers about them. Wouldn't you want to know that?

3. "It's about a conversation not campaigns anymore." That's something that Randy Elrod and Spence Smith said at the amazing LifeWorks 2.0 seminar I went to last week and this experience really brought that home for me. I actually ended up having a neat conversation with the representative from Etapestry through e-mail because he saw on my Twitter that we had a staff retreat this morning where we were discussing Strength Finder 2.0. How many times have you talked to a company's customer service representative about a great book you just read and shared what you learned about yourself from it? Yeah, things are changing out there. Are you stuck in the past or leading the way forward?

4. Always give them a chance. I don't really regret tweeting what I did because we would have never gotten to the bottom of this otherwise but I think I will be more cautious about getting both sides of the story from now on. In fact, I'm calling FirstGiving tomorrow to see what they say unless they also monitor their web presence and beat me to the punch. You always want to get all the information though before you make a final judgment.

Thank you Etapestry for the great lessons and also to Desiree for being in the middle of this with me. I'll admit, it was really cool to be in the middle of a situation created by social media.

What experience have you had that's been impacted by social media?

If They're Scary...Twitter Away

Because I’m new to Twitter, I’ve been thinking about how to grow my following and increase the community among those followers. I decided to start by looking at what leads me to follow or more importantly not follow my fellow tweeters. My basic rule is this: If they look scary, run away! Just like when you were kindergarten. That simple. Sometimes I like to say Twitter away but you get the idea. Read below to see some sure fire ways to ensure that I will NOT follow you on Twitter...
1. Inappropriate picture. I don’t even have to click to see your tweets because it doesn’t matter. Girls in bikini’s or even guys without shirts just indicate to me that you don’t have enough content to warrant my time. Respect us and yourself by having a G rated picture, we both deserve that. The two lesser but still alarming warning signs of a "bad tweeter" is to have some weird non-human picture or no picture at all. Easily remedied here, just have to put the effort out

2. Explicit tweets. If you’re profile picture doesn’t set off enough red flags and I actually look to see some of your tweets but see something like this: “I've got a big @# $ that just needs to be slapped around!” It’s over. And yes, that is honestly the one and only *actual* tweet from someone I blocked after they tried following me. Lends the question, if everyone on Twitter is selling something then what are you peddling? Leave that stuff on Cupid.com or “live chat” websites.

3. Sell, sale, sail! If all your tweets are about whatever you’re selling, whatever you have on sale, or simply location updates of where you’re currently sailing through life, that’s not very interesting. You have to find a balance between giving a 20 on your whereabouts and activities and sharing INTERESTING and non self-serving information. I struggle with this. I wonder sometimes, what interesting information do I have to share with people? I just try to be authentic and share what honestly interests me. Try it.

4. RT or @ syndrome. This could also be known as no original content-itis. I completely understand thinking that someone else’s tweet is really interesting and that you want to share that information while also giving credit to the original sharer, but don’t get gratuitous folks. When I see a tweeter with all @blahblahblah @yaddayadda and so on with no information relayed, it’s almost useless. Occasionally pointing out interesting people that you follow, totally different (I think there’s even a think called following Fridays for that) but keep it within reason. Stay true to yourself and share your own thoughts and content too. Again, find that balance between interesting external content, real life and experience, and authenticity.

These are just few things that I thought of off the top of my head. What attracts or repels you from following someone on Twitter or what are you pet peeves?