Happy Halloween! & Metaverse at Ad:Tech

How is everybody celebrating?  Personally, I spent the morning among the undead. At Metaverse, we have a costume photo contest heating up in our Staff Lounge.  Prizes are 1/2 day paid off for each the Best Kid Costume and Best Staffer Costume.  I think I am disqualified, but I am still entering my daughter, Mary.  Can you guess what she is?

Not a dog!

In online news, I loved the carving of 1000lb pumpkins on the Google homepage and it led me this morning to the BEST Halloween site I’ve seen since Sears has been rocking the zombies.  Check out the endless spooky world that Ben & Jerry’s have put up.  I was mesmerized for 20 minutes this morning, before I even invited Mary over to check it out!

Speaking of great digital marketing (see how I did that?), Metaverse will be showing November 8-10 in New York City at ad:tech, the largest gathering of digital marketers in the world.  I have attended ad:tech for years (at my first one, a speaker asked how many in the room were tweeting the session and I was the only person that raised my hand), but this is our first time showing.  Our new VP of Digital Media, Jennifer Lowe, has also been invited to give a presentation.  So if you are in the area, please email us at hi@metaversemodsquad.com and we can set you up with free Expo passes.  Should be a great show and maybeeeeee we will be unveiling a new Metaverse website…..

Eat too much candy, stay up too late, and call in sick tomorrow!  Unless you work for us.

–Amy

Metaverse Names Jennifer Lowe Vice President, Digital Media

Today we are pleased to announce we have promoted Jennifer Lowe to Vice President, Digital Media.  As many of you know, Jennifer is responsible for customer acquisition, leads our social management team, and consults on community development projects.

Based in Silicon Valley, Jennifer is an experienced social business strategist.  She works with enterprises, developers, and start-ups to maximize social media engagement though proper toolsets and Metaverse’s teams of engagement specialists, including social media managers, engagement moderators, and customer support representatives.

Since Jennifer joined the company two years ago, her accomplishments have ranged from consulting with businesses on social media strategies and onboarding social media managers, to leading digital marketing efforts for a mobile technologies start-up, to working on strategic partnerships for a top gainer Facebook game.

Previously, Jennifer was the Senior Director of Community at MOLI LLC, where she spearheaded the development of a global community for a social networking site.  She also played in two NYC-based bands, and in promoting their acts developed her passion for social media and grassroots marketing.

Jennifer has a BA in Marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University and an MBA from the Cotsakos College of Business at William Paterson University.

Congratulations Jennifer!

Be A Phone Hero

In the many support jobs in my career I found that taking the jump from written support to live phone support can be a slap in the face. No longer can you take the endless amount of time to work the ticket and make sure what you respond with is correct. Now you have to do all of it on the fly with the customer on the other side of the line hanging on everything you do or do not say.

 
This can be a bit scary to a lot of newer agents who haven’t had this experience before. But it doesn’t have to be a painful one if you prepare yourself with a few steps regarding how to handle a call. I asked some veterans of the field in how they go about handling phone calls once you get past the initial meet and greet part of the call, compared it to my own experiences, and here are the 3 most important parts of the call that you can work on mastering to become a phone hero.

 
Active Listening

The first and most important step to any call you take. Customers are going to want to throw a lot of information at you all at once. And then the kitchens sink for good measure. Your job is to listen to what they are saying and pick out the important parts, filing it away on paper or in your head until you’ve got a clear picture of the problem. This is the make or break part of the call and getting this right will make your job a whole lot easier.

 
Confidence

Where you go next on the call will differ, but how you go about doing it never does. You have to instill confidence in the person on the other end of the call. While you’re talking to them they need to be 100% sure you have the solution to their bad day. Now here is the trick… even if you don’t, you have to sound and act like you do have that solution. If a customer picks up on any lack of confidence in your own abilities or feel in any way you’re not going to solve their issue and be their phone hero, then you’ve lost them.

 
Call Control

You want to control your phone call from start to finish. That’s right, this is your phone call and you are the tour guide taking them from stop to stop with little interruptions for both of your benefits. This doesn’t have to be done forcefully in any shape. How you word and deliver your questions along with gently nudging progression of the call along with questions like “How did that turn out when you do this?” will give you the ability to steer the call where it needs to go. Having a list of handy questions that you can modify for the situation, along with a little bit of organization of your reference material for ease of access can really help you with this portion of the call.

 
Master these 3 steps while combining your product knowledge and expertise and you’ve just become that person’s personal phone hero, turning their bad situation into a great one.

 
Stephen Briggs

Darth Vader: The Galaxy’s Worst Community Manager

Sure, I enjoy working in online communities, but wouldn’t life as a Jedi Knight (or perhaps a Sith Lord) be even cooler? Despite my best efforts, I can’t shoot lightning from my fingertips, move objects with a simple thought, or use my brain to control the weak-minded. As depressing as my complete inability to wield the force is, I’m comforted by the fact that I’m much better at my job than Darth Vader would ever be. Yes, you heard that right. As powerful as Darth Vader is, he’d make an awfully crappy community manager.

So why would the galaxy’s most feared man be such a bad community manager? Let’s take a look…

Firm forgiveness – Moderators here at Metaverse Mod Squad abide by a philosophy of firm forgiveness. “Forgiveness” doesn’t seem to be in Darth Vader’s vocabulary. Just ask Captain Needa about how Darth Vader accepts apologies.

Power hungry – Remember these quotes? “Someday I will be the most powerful Jedi ever.” And how about “Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son!” Sure, having force powers is cool and all, but with great power comes great responsibility and community managers have to learn to use their influence (and handy community tools) wisely!

Don’t get drawn into battle – Community professionals NEVER let themselves get drawn into battle. Trolls and angry users might try to get under our skin, but we’ve learned to be bulletproof. Had Darth Vader learned that lesson, maybe he wouldn’t have ended up with his limbs hacked off stranded on the planet Mustafar.

Over reacting – As Master Yoda says, “Anger…fear…aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.” Unfortunately, those three things tend to block out Vader’s ability to think clearly… and then you end up as a slave to Emperor Palpatine after slaughtering the entire Jedi Order. A good community manager knows how to keep their cool, more like Yoda than Darth Vader.

Don’t feed the trolls – Like it or not, a community manager has to learn to learn to deal with annoying people in a professional manner. Sort of the exact opposite of what Anakin did to those Tusken Raiders that killed his mother. And those younglings on Coruscant. And just about everyone else he ever met.

Be welcoming and friendly – Community managers need to be approachable and friendly, welcoming new users into the community and making them feel at home. A six-foot tall Sith Lord in scary black armor that kills everything around him? Not so welcoming.

Keeping secrets – If you want to earn the trust of your community, you shouldn’t keep secrets. Sure, there’s plenty of information that you just can’t reveal, but when dealing with a community crisis, honesty is always the best policy. If you didn’t pick up on the hint Darth Vader, maybe you should’ve told Luke that you were his father a little bit sooner. And your “secret” relationship with Amidala? Probably not the best idea.

The new trilogy – Face it, the new Star Wars trilogy stunk. That’s irrelevant to the rest of this article, but it needed to be said and would probably destroy Vader’s credibility as a community manager somehow.

There’s no shortage of reason why Darth Vader should keep his distance from online communities. Long story short, don’t quit your day job as a Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Metaverse Mod Squad isn’t interested in your lack of Community Management skills. But if you can teach me the ways of the force… that would still be pretty cool!

- Jason Ferguson

Analytics – The Value – Part 1

This past week I had the opportunity to spend some time in Austin at the GDC Online conference and the buzz words of the conference (besides Wellington Sculley!) was “predictive analytics”. This sounds sexy doesn’t it? The ability to predict who will play your game, what they are going to by, when they are going to buy, and most importantly why … all within your grasp at last!

However, before I dive right in and have a flurry to our consulting services trying to leverage predictive analytics, I thought I would start with the basics of why you collect any information and suggest a process that most companies should go through before investing in any technology, contractor, or strategy when it comes to metrics. Ideally this is done before or during the production of the product/service so that you are logging the metrics even if you aren’t using them.

  by  davemc500hats 

Start by asking your team the following questions. And by team, I don’t mean just development; I mean your business folks, marketing divas, engineering aficionados, QA gurus, and community creators. All have a stake in the information being collected and for different reasons.

1. What data do we already collect? Where is it stored? How is it stored?
2. What data do you want to collect?
3. Why and what is the value of this data?
4. How long do you want to keep this data?
5. What types of decisions will be influenced by the data?
6. Who will be looking at the data?
7. Does the data need to be presented in raw form? Aggregate form? Reports? Dashboards? Trends?
8. How often do you need this data? Real-time with SMS alerts? Weekly? Monthly? Quarterly?
9. What is your budget for the project? Do you want a Cadillac software tool or would you be fine with plain text emails?
10. Does this data require extra protections (kids, privacy, financial)?

Starting off with these fundamentals will later help you leverage your existing metrics, analytics tools, and the ultimate goal of predictive analytics.

Once you have this information you should be able to better understand whether you need a contractor/consultant who can pull ad-hoc reports or a software tool that sits over your database and log files, or a system architected for you from end to end.

As always, would love to hear from you on how you are using metrics in your day to day or any questions/comments that you have on the topic. Please shoot me an e-mail if it’s more convenient. regine@metaversemodsquad.com

Cheers!

Regine Weiner

Brand Messaging: That’s What She Said

Do you remember playing “Chinese Whispers” as a child? The game begins with a group of people sitting in a circle and the first person whispers a random sentence into the ear of the individual next to them. The object of the game is for each person to whisper what they think they heard and continue until the last member of the group has to repeat the phrase out loud. The result can be quite funny! The final sentence is normally so mangled up, it’s barely recognizable.

Obviously, this example is silly, far-fetched and would probably result in the group laughing and working to find out where the misinterpretation began. However, what if the first person in the game, represented a huge company working to promote their new brand online? If the third member of our little group of friends had a misunderstanding with the company, their negative comments and experiences could easily spread through the web like wildfire. I have recently started working as a social media manager with a couple of our clients and one of my daily tasks is monitoring what is being said about them online. If there are negative comments or discussions, I take an aggressive approach at reaching out to the member and making sure their concerns are addressed as soon as possible.

Through social media networks, information can easily be passed on, Liked, shared, Tweeted, or commented on within seconds. One angry customer has the ability to tarnish a brand’s reputation on a global scale. However, with proper monitoring of your brand and listening to what people are saying, you could easily take advantage of online resources and gain control of how you and your brand are represented.

–Rebekah Good

Great Scott! 3 Lessons from Nike’s Back for the Future Campaign

A few weeks ago, Nike launched a promotional campaign to auction off 1,500 pairs of Nike Air Mags. (You know, those awesome power-lacing sneakers that Marty picked up when he traveled to 2015.)  For 10 days, Nike auctioned off 150 pairs of these shoes each day, with all proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

When I first started seeing YouTube videos for the “Marty McFly shoes” virally infecting my Facebook and Google+ feeds, I had exactly 3 thoughts:

1. I WANT SHOES.

2. When are they going to build my hoverboard?

3. This is brilliant social media marketing.

In less than a week, the Back For The Future YouTube video gained over 1 million views and the Facebook Page for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research gained over 10,000 new Page Likes. Yet, out of these millions of viewers reached, only 1,500 people got to buy these shoes. The objective of this campaign seemed not only to drive purchases of this particular pair of shoes but also to promote brand awareness for both Nike and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and funnel in new social media followers.

While we can’t all own a piece of history with these shoes or run a social media campaign for Marty McFly, we CAN pick up a few pointers. And you won’t even need to tamper with the space-time continuum to learn them.

Make like a tree and get the word out.

As Marty McFly learned, if you want to get your correct name out there, it helps to have your own name printed on your clothes. Similarly, word of mouth works when all of your channels are actively broadcasting a consistent look and message. In this case, both the Facebook Pages for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and Nike are using landing pages featuring the Back For The Future promotional video. This landing page is extremely relevant, as it’s the first thing new users (most likely those interested in the Back For The Future campaign) will see. Nike went so far as to create a designated Twitter account, YouTube account, and website for the promotion. Each of these areas has consistent art and design colors all pointing to the Back For The Future campaign. If these social media accounts could wear underwear, I can guarantee they wouldn’t say “Calvin.”

My density has brought me to you… I mean, my Facebook ad.

Many brands have the same problem with Facebook ads that George McFly did when he asked out Lorraine: the first impression just bombs. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I have this issue where the only Facebook ads that catch my eye are the bad ones. You know, the ones with spelling and grammatical errors and seriously creepy vibes. That’s why when I saw the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research ad on Facebook, I was floored: I actually WANTED to click the Like button. Not only does it play on my rabid fandom for all things Back to the Future, but it’s also a pretty decent ad. The title is simple and direct, reiterating the campaign name. The graphic is a beautiful and eye-catching depiction of the Marty McFly power lace-up shoes. The ad copy is clear but not pushy, simply explaining that the campaign is for a charity cause. Combine that with a clear Like button at the bottom? Heck yeah, I’ll Like that and go to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance with you.

 

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious engagement.

Marvin & the Starlighters understood this: you can’t hang around backstage if you want to entertain the crowd. You’ve got to put yourself out there, play some awesome (even groundbreaking) music, and engage with your audience. Nike’s Back For The Future Twitter account implements this well. In addition to posting great content with eBay auction updates and pictures, it talks to and replies to its followers. And not just, “Thanks for Tweeting us, check out our shoes!” These are really nice, conversational Tweets complimenting users, showing an interest in followers by asking and answering questions. The Nike Back For The Future Twitter account also signs most of its Tweets with popular and relevant hashtags (#BTTF, #BFTF, #NikeMAG), helping it get into and stay in related conversations. Keep it real and friendly and you won’t have to punch a bully like Biff to get your fans to fall in love with you.

 

–J.Lowe

Happy Fiscal New Year!

Photo Credit: The Onion

 

Kids in the Gaming Era

I have two kids.  One 8, the other 14.  Both boys.  These guys cut their teeth on games that were light years ahead of the 8 bit games I started on.  More realism, more detailed story lines, more everything.

My 14 year old is Autistic.  He absolutely hates violence.  He is the artistic one of the pair.  He’s also a perfectionist (in part from his autism).  When he gets a game, that game MUST be finished.  And not just to the point of beating the game.  He has to find every single thing in the game, complete any side games and unlock every secret item or area in the game.  Until he has done it all, he is not satisfied.

My 8 year old is into military or zombie games and first person shooters are his favorite.  The polar opposite of my oldest in every way.

Keeping my kids safe online is constantly on my mind.  The reason I got into the industry in the first place was to become more familiar with the practices in place for protecting children online.

My youngest is almost easier to handle because I simply keep him off certain games online and keep an eye on him when he plays the limited number of games he can play online.  I’m sure it drives him up the wall to have Dad looking over his shoulder but, with everything I’ve seen in “kids” games, he’s going to have to get used to it.

With my oldest, it gets a little more difficult when it comes to online gaming.  Luckily, there aren’t many games that he plays online.  The ones he does choose to play online are usually for his age range but seeing as his social skills are not as advanced as a “normal” 14 year old, even a simple conversation with another player can turn bad.

He may not quite understand what the other person is saying or he may just be interested in talking about something he wants to talk about and show no interest in what others are saying.

One of his favorite things is to randomly quote movies (he wants to be a director when he grows up) and it’s not usually in context with the current conversation.  Totally random.

The fact that he may not be able to joke about the same things or talk about the same things makes him a target for bullys.  He’s experienced this in the real world, but keeping it from happening in the virtual world is difficult.

This just points to the complexity of moderating the online gaming world.  It’s not always black and white but multiple shades of gray.  Those on the front lines of moderation for these worlds need to be able to recognize and understand that one 8 year old does not reflect every 8 year old.  And just because someone is 13 or 14, they may act as though they are much younger.  Not to start trouble but simply because that is how they are.

Safety is the number one goal and I sometimes think moderators end up keeping to the rules so strictly, they have blinders on to the possibility of kids playing their games that may not be your “average” kid.

It would be nice if people in charge of keeping the safety in these games could understand the difference between the “normal” behaviors and the behaviors of someone that doesn’t think the same way as another child might.  It’s a very tough situation in a virtual world but it will become more common.

When I had my son, the odds of a child being diagnosed with Autism were certainly a lot less than they are today.

It’s not clear if that is showing that more kids are being born with it or that more kids are actually being diagnosed but, the “kid demographic” could very possibly change a lot of how gaming, especially online, is handled.

In the end, I find myself trying to keep both kids safe using whatever tools I have available.  As a parent, my ultimate goal is for my kids to be safe and happy.  My kids may not agree with how I’m handling that right now, but I’d like to think they will thank me for it someday.

Autism Speaks – http://www.autismspeaks.org

National Autism Association – http://www.nationalautismassociation.org

– Chris Jensen

Foreign Languages No Barrier for Metaverse Multilinguists

“Globalization and the information technology revolution have gone to a whole new level.  Thanks to cloud computing, robotics, 3G wireless connectivity, Skype, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, the iPad, and cheap Internet-enabled smartphones, the world has gone from connected to hyper-connected.”

–Thomas Friedman, New York Times

Today’s global hyper-connectivity provides tremendous opportunities for businesses that provide goods or services in the digital space, most notably for the relatively seamless expansion into new markets.  One of the biggest challenges, of course, is engaging and relating to customers who literally speak a different language.

The language barrier is no problem for Metaverse’s clients because we provide all our digital engagement services, including community and social media management, moderation, and customer support, in English and multiple foreign languages.  “The task of servicing an online community across different cultures and languages can be daunting,” says Metaverse’s Cosette Paneque, a bilingual community manager who coordinates the company’s Foreign Languages services.  “But our multilingual and global team draws on its native language expertise and cultural knowledge to keep our customers’ international communities running smoothly.”

In addition to providing foreign languages for our core services, Metaverse builds custom word filters and chat dictionaries in various languages and dialects.  Our clients also use our native foreign language speakers from North America and around the world to translate content, review user names, and moderate in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese, among other languages.

Companies interested in Metaverse’s foreign language and globalization services, including a list of available languages, can learn more at our website’s new Foreign Languages page here or by sending an e-mail to hi@metaversemodsquad.com.

Anyone interested in applying for position with Metaverse can go to http://www.metaversemodsquad.com/careers.php, and send an application to apply@metaversemodsquad.com.  If your native language is one other than English, please be sure to mention that, as bilingual and multilingual applicants are given top priority.