The Omni Hotel Understand The Ripple Effect Of Social Media Tools

I think many companies are beginning to learn about how incredibly powerful social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are becoming to manage and monitor the scuttlebutt in and around their brand. I had an opportunity to witness this firsthand this past week.

I arrived in Corpus Chrisiti, Texas shortly after lunch on Thursday afternoon to speak at the South Texas Realtor Conference. After stopping by the facility where I would be speaking the next day and running through normal pre-event logistics I headed over to check in to my hotel. I arrived at the Omni Hotel on North Shoreline Blvd. After some initial issues getting checked in I went up to my room to get settled in.

After putting up all of my clothes and prepping my clothes for the next day (did I mention I am a bit of a control freak about such things?) I fired up my Mac to check out the wifi situation. To my disappointment I discovered that I was being prompted to pay an additional $9.95 for access which perturbed me to say the least. In today's day and age I sort of think that airports and hotels should offer Internet access as a convenience. Given this wasn't an option I reluctantly agreed to have the charge applied to my room - after all I couldn't conceive of being offline! Yes...I am also addicted to being connected...what can I say?!?

After going through the traditional sign-up process I was at last able to start connecting to my email server back at the office, check in with my Twitter peeps and do a little quick searching for where to eat that evening. We'll it seems that I was ready but the wifi wasn't. It was slow as Christmas. I was extremely disappointed. Each website I went to seemed to drag on and on while it loaded of eventually timed out. Given that I usually operate in three to four online environments at once (between email and the various social networks I utilize), I was frustrated.

Though it was slow I finally fired off a Tweet that communicated my disappointment by asking the question (of no one in particular mind you) why I was paying the Omni Hotel for wifi access when it was seemed as slow as dial up? Since my Twitter account is tied into my Facebook account I instantly received a few quick quirky responses from friends about my situation and how it was perhaps a sign from God that I should stay offline or that I had a dependency problem on being so connected. These of course made me smile and relax about the whole thing.

Then out of no where I received a public Tweet from @OmniHotels asking me where I was staying and assurances they would look into my perceived wifi speed issue. It concluded with a suggestion for me to sign up for their Select Guest Program. The first part really impressed me but I didn't pay much attention to the last part about their "program" figuring it was some tie-in marketing effort. I publicly responded to their Tweet with my location and figured that would be the end of it; perhaps my speed would be magically increased but I doubted it. I fired off my response Tweet to them and closed my Macbook Pro.

Twenty minutes later as I was reviewing notes for my upcoming keynote speech I received a call from a Guest Loyalty Specialist (title might be wrong but that is what I remember) named Silvia. She was a delightful energetic woman with a very engaging voice. She informed me that they were looking into my problem and wanted to offer to sign me up for free on the Select Guest Program. She gave me the run down of the features of this free program and offered to waive my wifi charges for this stay altogether. Then, and this really impressed me, offered to move me up to a higher floor where I assume my already great view would be further enhanced. I declined but none-the-less was impressed with her and now solidly with the Omni Hotel and their efforts to make me a happy guest.

I signed up for their program and gave them a little bit of "travel information" which I can assume will be used to cultivate more business from me at some point. I understand marketing after all. However it was the personal touch both on Twitter and in real life that extended the power of Omni's commitment to my satisfaction. Their decision to monitor and respond to my random Tweet clearly engaged me as their customer and overcame a perception issue that ordinarily would have been left unchecked and likely never voiced. Come on you know most of us will say everything was fine when asked during check out how our stay was even though it may not have been. At that point we reluctantly raise the white flag and surrender, certain that a complaint at that point would be a waste of breath. Sad but true but come on you know you've been there too!

The Omni clearly didn't want to leave a potential point of dissatisfaction to chance and took action when they saw there was a problem! They used my Tweet as an opportunity to leverage the power of social media to capture what was happening in a customer's mind in real time and respond. Clearly Silvia and their social media person did an outstanding job and no doubt created a Ripple in my mind that will certainly extend to influencing where I stay next time I speak out of town.

So I have to ask, is your company actively mining the various social media tools to not only take the pulse of your customers/clients but leveraging what it discovers to enhance their overall experience and impression of your company. If not why not? I bet you the folks at Omni could give you a bazillion reasons why you should.

Ripple On!!!

P.S. If my new friends at Omni Hotels happen by this post I would love to know who on the Omni Twitter team responded to my Tweet. Additionally I would love to know Sylvia's full name and supervisor's name so that I could pen a quick note of appreciation for their efforts on my behalf.

Don't Just Sit On The Virtual Sidelines When It Comes To Helping

I first noticed a request from someone I follow but don't know all that well when she posted it on Twitter. It seems she was looking for a very specific set of skills for a project she was working on for her company and had apparently run the gamut of her connections. I clicked on her most recent Tweets and could see a string of frustrated posts about dropped balls, unreliable people and a pressing deadline that was looming. With each Tweet her desperate plight seemed to be more and more magnified as she desperately looked for someone to help her out.

It would have been easy to say to myself...Whew I'm glad that's not me. I've been there sister and man finding good people to do the jobs they say they will can be frustrating. Hmmm I wonder what's going on with my other friends on Twitter and proceed to click away from her and her problems never to think of them again.

It was clear by her cries for help that few if any of her 300+ followers on Twitter were doing anything to really help her. In fact the responses I read ranged anywhere from "man that sucks!" to "you're screwed" to "at least it's Friday...the good news is you won't have to worry about this until Monday." Yeah like I'm that was the reassurance she was looking for...NOT!

Have we as a society become so disengaged that mere connection through online social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook give us permission to poke fun and be sarcastic about someone's problem? It sure seems like it. What spoke even louder was the fact that she only received a handful of tepid responses to her pleas for help. Where were the people who followed her and why wasn't someone offering her more than sarcastic commentary to help her?

To be clear I don't know this women well. In fact I only started following her because she had followed me. Even though we have never met personally I have enjoyed exchanging some Tweets with her over the past few months. She's always been responsive, helpful and friendly when we have engaged one another online. I like her and clearly I could see and feel her pain.

As luck would have it I knew exactly the person she needed to engage regarding her project. I immediately direct messaged (DM'd her for those Twitter purists) her and asked her permission to connect her and my colleague for an exploratory conversation. She pinged me back almost immediately with a "OMG YES! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

I didn't need to help though but it's my nature to be helpful when and where I can. I could have come up with my own quippy response to her plight to outwit the clearly dimwitted but that wouldn't help her (and then I would have joined the rank of the woefully dimwitted). I might have easily missed the Tweet she posted as there is literally so much noise on Twitter that it's easy to do. I happen to believe things work out the way they are supposed to - hence it was in the cards that day for me to see what was going on and decide to dig deeper and help if I could. There were a lot of ways this situation could have gone down but it worked out for her and my colleague to work together in the end.

The point in all of this...and I do have one by the way is....If you are going to spend time making friends online, developing virtual connections and engaging strangers from around the world, you have a responsibility. You just can't passively sit on the virtual sidelines when someone is in need; much less make fun of them or their situation. You are responsible for keeping your eyes and ears peeled to help them when and where you can. You have to be willing to put yourself out there to offer up suggestions, ideas and your own connections if you truly want to make and grow your online relationships beyond simple avatars and cute profile pictures.

Just because the people in your followers or friends list are virtual it does not mean your commitment and dedication to Rippling when and where you can for them doesn't have to be.

Think about it and as always....

Ripple On!!!

What Can 9-9-09 Inspire You To Do?

Image by luc legay via Flickr

Well folks it's 9-9-09! How cool is that?

Hmmm what can we do with that? Surely there is something. Let me think, let me think!

AhHa! I've got it!

Make a list of 18 really cool people. Maybe they are friends, business acquaintances or cool and interesting people you've met online through a BLOG (hmm say like this one?) or through a social networking site such as Facebook or Twitter.

Come on you can think of 18 cool and interesting people can't you? Heck my problem is just limiting it only to 18.

So that's step one. Now for step two.

Write all of these people's names on a list. Break that list in half. This is where a little brain power is required. Look at each person individually and determine at least one interesting factoid or creative talent or skill that you know they possess and that will be your Connection Point (you know how I love those!). Now look at the other people on your list and start matching who needs to know who and well....you get the picture.

The final and most critical step is step three. Take Action TODAY!

Introduce, connect or somehow engage each of the 9 people on the first side of your list with the at least one person from the other side of the list. Use the Connection Point as your baseline for why you are connecting them and give a little heartfelt push and encouragement and sit back and let the connecting and Rippling happen from there.

Do you know that if you connected 9 people with 9 other people that your would easily improve your standing with each of those people 10 fold ---- oh wait I had a theme going here! Let's call it 9 fold instead! (Smile)

Heck what if you connected all 18 people with one another! You will have created 81 total connections from this little exercise. And you thought you weren't that powerful! You carry a big rock and have the power to create many big Ripples my friend! Wait a second...my did I sound like Tonto from the Lone Ranger there?

Anyway....you can either sit on your hands today and watch 9-9-09 go by like every other day or you can step up to the plate and use this magical number day to do something with it. It will only come along once in your lifetime so why not give it a go?

Come on people! Let's Ripple!!!

Ripple On!!!

Connect In Your Pajamas

I recently attended an event where the question was asked about which was more productive and useful - networking live and in person or networking online? What a great question, especially given the explosion of websites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Finding and making new connections has never been easier thanks to many of the fabulous social networking websites that have literally exploded onto the market the past few years. Many of which are free by the way!

In fact where else could you find out more detailed information about someone you want to connect with than online? Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn offer a plethora of detail about the people you meet, or want to meet. Much of that information being the information those people want to specifically share with you and anyone else who might happen along their cyber doorstep.

Networking "in the cloud" is so much easier than doing it online in my humble opinion. Why? Because the pressure is off. You don't have to make a whole lot of stupid sideshow conversation in hopes of catching some one's attention with your quippy 30 second elevator speech. Instead you can just be yourself and hopefully if you do a little research ahead of time you have something relevant to share and/or ask the people you engage.

Sure there are plenty of do's and don'ts when you look to take your networking efforts online but let us save that for a future BLOG post. Instead I want you to simply start thinking about the incredible time savings that discovering, making and growing new connections online can mean to you and your personal or professional interests.

Here's a few points to ponder:

The average networking event zaps a minimum 2.5-3.5 hours per event.

Rather than get all gussied up and drive down to the next local event, save yourself the time and the aggravation and simply grab your laptop, slide into a comfortable chair (or better yet, find a comfy hill at your local park), and start logging on to sites like Facebook and Twitter and start exploring, sharing and connecting.

Networking events cost money. Sometimes lots of money.

Connecting online is free.

Networking events require that you have to have endlessly mindless conversations to vet potential prospects.

Connecting online requires some due diligence on your part but it's faster and far more fun and productive.

Networking events rarely offer you any insight as to who the person is you've just met.

Connecting online allows you to learn what people want to share with the world. Many of those things become your ultimate connection points (i.e. he's a Cub fan, I'm a Cub fan).

I could name a hundred things that make connecting at home in your pajamas far more appealing than your average networking mixer but I think you get the point. I simply want to show you that the time, energy and effort which goes in to preparing and attending your average networking event could be so much better spent.

The tools that are already out there waiting for you to use them and oh yeah...one last huge point. They are there when you want to use them 24x7. Isn't that so much more appealing than waiting until next week's chamber (rubber chicken) luncheon?

Ripple On!!!

RippleTag Facebook Application Released

I am excited to announce that my team and I have launched our first Ripple Connection Application for Facebook. RippleTag takes the Ripple Connection Question concept to an entirely new level making it fun and easy to connect with your Facebook friends.

In today's online world many of us make new acquaintances at an alarming rate. Whether it be with our latest Twitter post or the old playground mate that we once hug out with at the monkey bars in elementary school or that long lost co-workers of yester year. We still fail to do little more than send or casually accept friend requests. Aside from the obligatory "catch me up on what's been going on in your world" many of us have a hard time figuring out how to engage at a deeper more meaningful level. We still lack the fundamental ability to really connect with our "friends."

That is why we created RippleTag! The app is designed to help you connect and learn more about those friends you want to know or just know bettter. By using questions that are fun to ask and fun to answer, you will hopefully discover what I call Connection Points - those little bite size morsels of information you might never discover on your own. It's through those Connection Points that you find commonalities, shared interests and future dialogue jumping off points which will inevitably accelerate and grow your relationships.

I can barely contain the excitement for what I think is a pretty cool little application. I have high hopes that you will check out RippleTag use and let us know what you think!

Here's the link: http://budurl.com/3tmy

Now go forth and Ripple On!!!