The Tendo View » microsoft

5 ways to avoid social media blunders

Linda Leung — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:36:55 +0000

Recent Twitter activities over at Microsoft (regarding Amy Winehouse) and Entenmann’s (regarding the company’s #notguilty blunder) are serving as a big reminder to marketers that they need to step out of their cubes once in a while and talk to real customers.

Market research and stats are all well and good, but smart marketers will tell you that talking to customers 1-1 will help you appreciate the sentiments of the moment. Customers have strong beliefs and feelings that go far beyond what they buy from you. And we need to be sensitive to that.

If you missed the news, Microsoft tweeted an apology after a tweet from its Xbox 360 PR account encouraged Amy Winehouse fans to remember the singer by downloading her album. Twitter users accused Microsoft of being “cynical” and acting with “appalling taste.”

Baked goods maker Entenmann’s tweeted “Who’s #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!” on the heels of the Casey Anthony not-guilty murder verdict. Entenmann’s soon tweeted an apology, admitting that it should have checked the trending hashtag before broadcasting its tweet.

No offense intended

These blunders reminded me of an unintended offense made by a technology print magazine I worked for many years ago. We published an illustration of the Hindu deity Shiva with four arms. Each arm was holding some sort of digital device. We received so many complaints from offended readers that to this day, I remember the anger.

The magazine’s illustrator meant no malice. Likewise, it’s hard to imagine that the original tweets from Microsoft or Entenmann’s were created with bad intent. We all get caught up in the moment. We have a huge list of tasks to get through and sometimes we make mistakes or use bad judgment. But when you’re in a position of producing content that’s consumed by the public, it pays to take a step back and do a sanity check.

Here are some quick tips for keeping your social media audience happy:

1. Go with your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, check it with someone who’s not involved with the project and see if it raises alarm bells with them.
2. Check hashtags before “hashtag surfing” (i.e., using hashtags to get a wider audience to see your tweets).
3. If you’re using a competitor’s hashtag (for example, a hashtag a competitor has created for a special event) to get your point of view across to your competitor’s audience, don’t spam. Tweet useful comments and be polite.
4. Remember the old adage, “Never talk about religion or politics in dinner conversations.” Never refer to religious or political figures/issues in your marketing content (unless you’re in those sectors).
5. Go out and meet your customers face-to-face. Find out what else they do when they’re not using your product; find out their likes and dislikes. You might be surprised.

Seeing a brand in new light

Bill Golden — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:29:42 +0000

I had one of those rare moments recently when an ad actually influenced my brand sentiment.

Maybe it stood out because it’s a rare occurrence for me. Or because it involved a brand I”m not particularly fond of. Or then again, maybe it was compelling creative. I think it was mostly the latter.

It was a TV spot for Microsoft Bing. Yeah, there’s been a ton of publicity about Bing stealing one or two percentage points of search-engine marketshare from Google. I’m a little predisposed as a result. But that wasn’t it entirely.

After seeing the guy who mimics Google search pages by uncontrollably spewing out irrelevant phrases about Hawaii, how to fix parking tickets, and talk to hot singles in your area, I laughed, paused for a moment, and thought, “yeah, that does sort of happen with Google.”

Then it occurred to me that the mightly, infallible Google, smartest search engine ever, might actually be flawed; something I’ve never really considered.

I’ve only used Bing a couple times, so I don’t know if it’s any better. But that’s not the point.

The Bing ad not only engaged and entertained me, it also made me think twice about Google and search in general.

Nice work, Microsoft.

Is Bing the new Google?

Christine Zender — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:57:19 +0000

I originally sat down to write about how much I disliked Bing. But as I explored it further, all of my arguments fell apart; I found myself coming back to “but it’s not Google” again and again. And while I applaud brand loyalty, my job is about using the best tools and technologies for the job—whatever the job is. So, “It’s not Google” isn’t really an argument—that’s just being resistant to change. Which I’m not. Or, I shouldn’t be…

My initial reservation was that Bing just wasn’t that good at, well, searching. It’s billed as a decision engine, and it definitely slices and dices information in new, sometimes helpful ways, but before it helps me decide something, it should give me the best possible choices from which to decide. Yet it didn’t find the results I needed for pretty simple searches. For example, I wanted to know more about an information architecture company called EightShapes. Last week, a search for “eightshapes” in Bing pulled up lots of results on mathematical principles, but no company website. This lack of results was repeated with several other simple searches—so I switched back to Google, which gave me the EightShapes site as the top search item. Just for fun, check out Bing vs. Google to compare search results in each engine.

Today, however, if you search for EightShapes (or any of the other search items I tested) on either engine, you get roughly the same results. So, perhaps Bing, like HAL, is learning… The bottom line is that Bing gives you the ability to search text, images, video, news, maps, and shopping. So does Google. Bing helps shortcut your search by linking directly to specific pages within companies. So does Google. Bing provides sponsored links. So does Google. One nice feature that Bing has that Google doesn’t, however, is the ability to save and share search histories on Facebook and email.

Where Bing really excels, however, is by leveraging the awesome marketing power of Microsoft. The Redmond giant’s ability to develop and coordinate a truly impressive array of marketing and promotional campaigns is awe inspiring.

It’s not just the standard deals to make Bing the default browser on HP and Dell PCs and Verizon smart phones. Here in San Francisco, not one week after Bing launched, DJs on every Viacom-owned radio station in the city suddenly stopped using “Google” as a verb and began using “Bing.” As in, “We should Bing that to see if it’s true.” Coincidence? Probably not. And then there’s the Bing Cashback program, which rewards shoppers for purchasing products on Bing by giving them a percentage of the purchase price as cash. Sweet.

Is Bing a better search engine? The jury’s still out for me. Is Microsoft better at marketing and promoting the product? There’s no contest.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360: A Formidable Force, but its Website Needs to be Streamlined.

David Murphy — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:21:24 +0000

With more than 10.9 million sales to date, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console is a formidable force in the national video game marketplace. Its official website is just as ambitious. We discovered that the content’s all there—we just wish there was a better presentation.

BRAVO

We are used to seeing plenty of sales and marketing “oomph” packaged into official product sites, and Microsoft’s Internet presence for Xbox is no exception. Gamers can salivate over the comprehensive information sections awarded to each of the console’s many accessories. The devices all receive their own separate profile page that lists specifications, shows alternate colorations, and links back to articles detailing how each accessory can be used.

The console’s bevy of games receives similar treatment. They’re split up into a number of classifications, from downloadable Arcade games, to upcoming titles, to games themed for a family living room. Each title’s “home page” receives a different level of artistic treatment depending on the game’s notability. An accompanying specification box lists each game’s tangible features and requirements in a style that’s identical across the entire Xbox domain. This gives readers a chance to quickly scan the page and identify the important elements no matter what game they’re looking at on the site.

TRY AGAIN

Microsoft’s official Xbox site suffers from a confusing lack of information when you need it and an overabundance of information that hurts the organization of the site. We’ll start with the former. The front page completely overlooks the site’s most compelling feature: it’s frequency of updates. Flash-based feature content is more an advertisement for the Xbox’s core features than showcases for new content. And the paltry “top stories” navigational element is woefully underutilized given just how many new elements appear on the site on a weekly basis. How about a comprehensive news ticker that details the site’s newest offerings, the console’s latest games, and the community’s most recent updates? A little Web 2.0 interactivity wouldn’t hurt either.

Beyond that, there are simply too many options for a user to choose for the actual sections of content on the site. For example, the site’s Accessories section is broken into seven different subsections: Accessories Front Page, Wireless, Xbox Live, Catalog, Entertainment, Cables, and Family Fun. What makes an accessory “family fun?” Why does Entertainment not relate to Accessories, but to the Xbox’s media streaming capabilities? Why does Cables receive a distinguishing section of its own? It’s a confusing mess.

The site’s Community section suffers from a similar amount of information overload. For example, each Xbox game has a separate message board for users to chat on. Instead of organizing these in any coherent fashion—by year of release, by genre, alphabetically—Microsoft merely slaps each new title into an all-encompassing “Games” section. It’s an ever-expanding list that grows more unwieldy as new games join the Xbox family. Why scroll for an eternity just to check out all the latest commentary about Rock Band 2?

As a whole, Microsoft would do well to exhibit restraint across its site. Organize. Combine. Simplify. There’s a wealth of information available, but the critical details get lost amidst the clutter. There’s gold in what Xbox has as an online presence. Don’t make users have to hack their way through a jungle of words to get to it. Save that for the games.