By now, most the social web and even mainstream media have read the story about Southwest Airlines and filmmaker Kevin Smith, removing him from a flight because he was ‘too fat’ and a safety concern. Let me state this from the get go, I realize that SWA was in the wrong with their actions and don’t agree with what they did.
This is a cross-post from my basketball blog, Rockin’ The Rim. Though it reads about Michael Jordan and the game of basketball, the focus is on his nature as a competitor and the motivation he lived with to succeed every day; something we all can benefit from – basketball or not.
When it comes to the NBA and the word greatness, one person that will always pop up in our minds is Michael Jordan. We all know him for what he’s done on the basketball court and the success of 6 NBA Championships that followed. Countless MVPs, regular and postseason, All-Star Appearances, and a myriad of other accolades. The most noted achievement came last week as MJ was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2009.
I’m sitting here at Panera Bread, my usual work-shifting spot, doing some Saturday afternoon work. My experience here is always a pleasant one – relaxing environment and nice employees (free Wi-Fi doesn’t hurt either.) But my time here today was a little different, as I sat next to a new-employee class that Panera was hosting for a handful of newbies.
They’ve been talking about the company’s history, the bread, and the passion that has gone into this business for over 20 years. What stuck out to me, as I overheard/eavesdropped/call-it-what-you-want on their training, was what the class ‘leader’ said:
We build trust through our relationships with our customers and our community.
I found it inspiring to hear a brick & mortar business, let alone a restaurant/bakery, put such precedence on this statement. Why did I find such surprise in it? One – we unfortunately don’t see such a passionate offline business with equally as passionate employees, as we do with Panera. Two – we seemingly correlate trust, relationships and community specifically with the online space.
Is the offline space that much more different than online when building trust and a passionate community? Trusting relationships are around us in our everyday lives with our family and friends, but why does it seem that when it comes to business, it’s more easily conceived online than when face-to-face with your customers?
In my opinion, business cultures have gone off base to a point where connecting with their customers as more than just a $ sign is out of the realm of possibility – and that’s where it has to start, culture. Panera has been in business since 1987 and from what I’ve seen in my dozens of visits and now with this new-employee class, they’ve instilled such a culture and passion within the business itself that it’s what every employee seemingly lives & breathes.
Kudos to Panera, but what can other brick & mortar businesses do to instill this sort of culture and to gain their customers’ trust? Do you have an experience like mine that you’d like to add?
Many of us knew that today was the beginning of SXSW Interactive’s voting process for the conference’s panel submissions. The PanelPicker, as it’s called, shows all submitted panel ideas and allows you to vote and comment on your favorites and which ones you would like to see at the event next year. It’s a great way to crowdsource and choose which ideas you would find most beneficial – but with that comes a downside, as it was prevalent with Christopher Penn’s tweet this morning:
From what I’ve heard from Chris and several others today, the downfall has been panelists promoting their submissions through Tweets and DMs, asking for votes and trying to garner as much response as possible, while trying to beat out the other 2,215 submissions (keep in mind, voting accounts for 30% of the decision process.)
Have I received requests today? Yup. But mainly from people who I consider good friends and whose opinion and knowledge I respect and trust. Do I have a panel and have I promoted it? Yes – Bryan Person and I have a submission, but actually haven’t mentioned it until now. Regardless, in the end it’s ultimately up to us and which submissions we find relevant and most important.
PanelPicker or the highway?
Pimping out online voting systems is a reality within social media and the online world as a whole that we’ve unfortunately become accustomed to (remember the Shorty Awards?) I understand Chris’ feelings, especially when it comes from individuals you don’t have a relationship with. But are we making a bigger issue than there really is, or is there a better way SXSW and potential panelists could get the community involved instead of this voting system?
I’m always open to discussion and hearing how this process could be made more efficient. Have at it, I’m all ears.
Update: Ran across a great post by Len Kendall that promotes a handful of non-SM panels (with background info) but also his own, in a non-pimping sort of way. Kudos, Len.
This post is a collaboration with the super smart Lauren Fernandez. She pointed me towards this story and related issue, so it was only right to have her weigh in and get her point of view. You can connect with Lauren at her awesome PR blog or on Twitter.
We’re all aware of the hyper-connectivity that Social Media has created in today’s digital age – providing us with information and numerous forms of media at the tips of our fingers. The speed at which technology has changed our everyday lives and the opportunities it has created for businesses is amazing; but the SEC doesn’t see it that way. (more…)
Because following guidelines doesn’t always get you noticed.
Because letting your passion and personality ride you through gets people talking.
Because change is a good thing and it challenges people and their thinking.
Because being yourself will always be far better than trying to be someone else.
And because not conforming gives you great memories like this:
I found this video yesterday (thanks to @KatiRyan) when it was only at a few thousand views and it’s now blown up past 1mm (update: a day later and it’s now close to 5mm – wow). I’ve admittedly added to a few dozen of those views, but there’s something to it (minus the overall awesomeness of what this couple orchestrated at their wedding) that gets me excited and pumped about what is possible.
How can you step outside of the box today and challenge the world of conformity?
I was reading Mack Collier’s post this morning on companies falling for social media’s ‘fear factor’ and a somewhat funny analogy came to mind as I thought about not only companies, but also people’s need to ‘do’ Social Media. This rush of individuals, Internet companies, traditional media, etc. is very much reminiscent of the yearly after-Thanksgiving Black Friday sales. (more…)
This morning’s brand brouhaha, if you haven’t seen it already, revolves around United Airlines and a musician’s scorn. The full story resides on Dave Carroll’s site but the gist is that United Airlines damaged his $3,500 guitar, as luggage handlers tossed it around. Nine months past and numerous phone calls and emails later, there was no resolution and Dave’s claim for his guitar was denied. What takes the cake though is Dave’s response. He’s a musician and it was only right for him to write a song about it but better yet, create a music video:
Today’s social media focused world is really cut up into two sides. One side is where much of the hard work, tough questions, and moving of needles reside. Those people who are looking to help further the industry, build strong communities, help innovate, and are genuine in their actions. While on the flip side, you have the people looking for shortcuts, the easy road to infamy and a legion of thousands that they probably don’t even know. The people who think it’s a numbers game. (more…)
I normally don’t talk about apps and other toys that we all play with on a daily basis, but I couldn’t resist not talking about Sirius XM’s recently released iPhone app. The anticipated release of their app has certainly dissipated as iPhoners and subscribers are realizing that though it’s a free app, there is an additional $3/month fee to access their ‘premium’ online radio content.
Wait, what?
For those, like myself, who already subscribe to their service, we’re scratching our heads as to why Sirius XM is actually making customers who want to use the iPhone app pay an additional fee on top of their monthly costs. In my eyes, they totally missed the mark – not only with their pricing strategy but also in respect to their customers. Don’t take my word for it, take a look at the 2-stars given by 35,752 ratings and some of the 3,936 customer reviews: (more…)
If you weren’t around Twitter Friday afternoon, you might’ve missed that Bryan Person and I launched a new chat, #CmtyChat. Sure, there are a lot of great chats out like the original, #JournChat, but we felt the increasing need to talk about the growing business of online communities and how community managers are building, managing, and measuring those communities.
We were lucky enough to have Jim Storer as our guest for the inaugural #CmtyChat and had a great conversation centered around questions from the community:
Q1 – What are the biggest day-to-day challenges for community managers?
Q2 – Finding “allies” is a key issue for community managers. How can CMs find that support?
Q3 – Driving culture change is crucial to gaining internal support for communities. Best tips for bringing about that change?
Q4 – @RHappe just mentioned the importance of the “aha! moment” for evangelizing. What has been your aha! moment as a CM?
Q5 – @JamiePappas suggests profiling members as a way to build support/momentum for the community. Any others finding success with that?
Even better was the subsequent conversation to these questions, so I’m sure you want to get the meat of it. Lucky for us, the cool people over at WTHashtag have a great statistical overview of our chat – but more importantly, a transcript.
#CmtyChat runs every Friday from 1-2pm ET, and can follow the coversation from the hashtag and @CmtyChat, but that doesn’t mean the conversation has to stop there. I still want to hear from you. Share your thoughts and ideas to the above questions and add to the conversation.
If you weren’t around Twitter Friday afternoon, you might’ve missed that 
