Social Media Archives - Page 6 of 9

Facebook Firings Cost Employer $200,000+

September 19, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

I’ve been following closely, and reporting on, the recent uptick in activity being taken by the National Labor Relations Board in pursuing complaints related to employee terminations due to social media use. All of the previous articles, including thebreaking news story I wrote regarding a BMW dealership who fired an employee due to Facebook posts, were only complaints that the NLRB were pursuing, but no decisions had been made by a judge. All of the similar previous cases had been settled so no precedents existed.

That’s all changed now.

In a press release from the NLRB dated Sept, 7, 2011, it reported that an Administrative Law Judge has ruled in favor of the five plaintiffs who were discharged by their employer over Facebook posts in which they complained about their employer and co-worker stating that the posts were “protected concerted activity.” In the ruling, the judge ordered the company to immediately reinstate all five employees and back pay all five workers – in full – with interest compounded daily, including compensation for all lost benefits.

These employees were “domestic violence advocates.” The average salary for this position is $41,000 according to SimplyHired.com. Using that figure, the employer had to pay just short of $188,000 not including interest and lost benefits, which easily equates to over $200,000.

As I reported, there are many similar cases still pending, including the one involving the BMW dealership.

This ruling is precedent setting and will with no doubt effect the other pending cases as well as any future complaints.

It is now more important than ever that your dealership immediately institute an appropriate social media policy that is specific and that excludes protected activities or review the one you already have to insure compliance with the suggestions made by the NLRB in their earlier issued report.

(Originally published September 14, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

What Does The Government Think About Your Social Media Policy?

September 9, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

Back in June, I broke news on a case that involved a BMW dealership firing a salesperson for posting critical comments about the dealership and pictures of an accident that occurred on a nearby dealership’s lot (that happened to be owned by the same people).

Due to the huge increase in social media use by the general population as a form of communication, The National Labor Relation Board is aggressively going after companies that terminate employees for issues in regards to social media use. Until now, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which cases they were supporting and which they weren’t. The information was there, but unless you were actively seeking these cases, chances are you wouldn’t find them.

In an effort to coordinate the prosecution of cases involving social media, Anne Purcell, Associate General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, wrote and released a 24 page report on August 18, 2011 summarizing cases involving social media and explaining why they have chosen to prosecute (or not) these cases. In doing so, they’ve given insight into what you can and can’t do as an employer including what they believe your social media policy should (or shouldn’t) say.

Keep in mind that this is a summary of the cases and issues that they’ve determined merit prosecution. While some of the cases have been settled, many of these cases have trials pending. In no way are these laws or precedents…yet. However, in knowing what they do and don’t consider valid complaints, it can help any employer construct a more solid social media policy that would, at the very least, withstand the scrutiny of the National Labor Relations Board. It also gives insight into what, if any, disciplinary action you can take against an employee in regards to social media use.

In summary, based on the collective summaries of the cases, here are some guidelines I’ve extrapolated from the report for your social media policies and disciplinary considerations:

They’re huge on protected concerted activity. Employees can discuss and criticize their employer, supervisors and co-workers as long as they don’t stand alone in their criticisms. Your employees can call you a “scumbag”, an “a-hole”, a “super mega puta” or whatever else as long as they have co-workers that share their opinion. They have the right to discuss working conditions and their employer anywhere, including via social media. The keyword here is that it must be a discussion. Personal gripes don’t count.

You can’t have overly-broad social media policies. Things you can’t include in your social media policies:

Prohibit employees from making negative comments about the company, their supervisors or their co-workers.
Posting pictures of themselves which depict the company in any way (ie. in uniform, on the job, etc.)
Prohibit them from using inappropriate, offensive or rude language in regards to a coworker, the company, or a customer.
Prohibit inappropriate discussions via blogs.
Prohibit employees from discussing company business on their own time on their personal accounts.
Prohibit employees from disclosing inappropriate or sensitive information about the company.
Prohibit employees from posting pictures or comments involving the company or its employees that would be considered inappropriate.
Prohibit employees from using the company name, address, or other company information on their personal profiles.
Prohibit employees from using the company’s logo or photographs of the company’s store.

How many of these does your company have in its social media policy?

I bet quite a few. You’re probably thinking “Holy Cow” about now. Seems as if employees can do anything they want! That’s not true. What IS true is this: these company’s social media policies (when they had them) contained restrictions that were overly broad and encompassing. Employees have a right to bitch about their workplace, bosses and company, whether it’s aloud or via any type of social media, including Facebook, Twitter or blogging. It doesn’t matter whether you have an “At-Will Employment Agreement”.

So how do you restrict your employee’s social media use through policy without it being considered overly-broad? I mean, come on, you can’t account for EVERY possible situation in a written policy.

The answer is actually quite simple. Your policy is overly broad and/or unlawful if it does not contain verbiage that excludes protected concerted activity as defined by Sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act. Simply putting a phrase similar to that into your social media policy should protect you in most instances (unless, of course, the activity IS protected).

In addition, when considering whether you can or can’t terminate an employee because of something they posted on social media, you need to ask yourself these questions:

Is this comment posted relating to any form of work conditions?
Is it a shared opinion and/or being discussed with fellow co-workers?

If the answer is yes, I would think twice before disciplining the employee. If the answer is no, you’re probably safe.

This has nothing to do with free speech. It has everything to do with creating policies that would INCLUDE protected concerted activities. To make it short (and provide an example of their reasoning), you can’t tell an employee they can’t post photos or use the company logo on social media without permission because that would include prohibiting the employees from posting photos of them on a picket line in front of your dealership. You can’t simply tell them they cannot talk about the company via social media because that would prohibit them from lawfully discussing working conditions with their co-workers.

Moral of the story: If you’re an employer, make sure your policy excludes protected activity. If you’re an employee, make sure your co-workers agree with you (and chime in).

Disclaimer: The author of this post is not an attorney and in no way should this be considered legal advice.

(Originally published on Dealer magazine)

Deliver Smiles

August 29, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

This past Sunday, August 14th, was my birthday. Facebook brought me 150 “Happy Birthdays” yesterday from the whole spectrum of my social network – family, people I know well, industry people, and even people I only know through Facebook. I made a point to say “Thank you” to every single one of them in as personalized a way as possible. Why?

Other than the fact that it’s polite and I wanted each person to know that I recognized them and appreciated them taking their time to recognize my birthday, social networking is about involvement. It allows you to be involved in people’s lives and days. I view this as a privilege. People use social networks for all sorts of different reasons – whether it’s all about work, all about family, all personal or some mash up of these.

Regardless of HOW you choose to use social networks, the fact remains that behind each and every one of these “accounts” is a person. It’s easy to forget that the Facebook profile for a car dealership actually has someone on the other end posting things and interacting with people, even if it is on behalf of the dealership.

I think everyone would agree that it’s a best practice to send birthday cards to your friends, family, and customers and to recognize important occasions or be empathetic when they have a bad day or had some hard luck. Doing the same things on your social networks is no less of a best practice.

My personal philosophy in regards to social media use is this. I try to be myself. I let people into my life and get to know me for real not only what news stories I’m interested in, what inventory I have, what I’m “selling”, what quote I like, or what games I play. I believe that many of my social network friends that know me in real life would agree that I accomplish this pretty well. What you see if what you get. Don’t get me wrong, there are subjects I stay away from. A general rule of thumb I follow is that if I wouldn’t say it in a room full of people at a party; I don’t say it but I ALWAYS stay true to myself.

I believe that people want to network with people, not with the AP Newswire.

Just as every one of those 150 wall posts yesterday brought me a smile and made me appreciate and enjoy my birthday just that little bit more, I also reciprocate and make sure I say “Happy Birthday” to people daily. I also, as many know, post a “Comic of the Day”. I try to be encouraging, funny, and personal.. but, most of all, real.

One universal truth is that people like to smile. They like to be heard. They like feeling that people are listening and that they are making a difference and/or are part of someone else’s life even if it’s in as small of a way as saying “Happy Birthday” to someone or having someone say “Happy Birthday” to you, whether you really know them or not. There’s a reason that some of your highest interaction on social networks will be with humorous and personal posts.

Disneyland is a master at this. It gives people buttons to wear around the park showing everyone that it’s that person’s birthday. Their company’s policy is that every employee who sees a guest with this button says “Happy Birthday” to them. I even see other park guests take the time to say “Happy Birthday” to complete strangers. This smallest of policies can make a huge difference in someone’s day. Disneyland is “the happiest place on Earth” for a reason, and that’s why people love it and will spend hundreds of dollars to go there on any given day. Over 2 million people registered for Disneyland’s birthday promotion in 2009.

True social media influencers are influencers because they are genuine. People want to listen to them because they are real people, and that comes through in their posts, what they choose to share and how they interact with others.

So, if you only follow two rules in your social media networking, follow the same ones that you should follow in real life: be yourself and deliver smiles.

(Originally published August 15, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

How To: List Inventory On Your Facebook Wall & Succeed

July 8, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

Facebook is designed and centered on engagement. Social media professionals all have various ideas on how you should do it and what works. My quick take on this is: whatever works for you – do that.

What do I mean by that? Facebook provides analytics on a per post basis. Use those to determine what types of content are causing your fans to interact with you. If people like jokes, post jokes. If people like to answer fun questions, ask fun questions. It’s that simple. I think pretty much EVERY social media professional will advise you, however, NOT to post your inventory to your Facebook page’s wall.

I absolutely agree BUT, I have found one very creative and unique dealership that can get away with it. In fact, not only can they get away with it, I LOOK FORWARD to seeing new inventory being posted to their Facebook wall. I’m not a buyer. They’re not my client. I’m not even in the same state that they are in.

How do they do it? By following one best practice and using massive creativity.

I doubt anyone would disagree that one fundamental best practice of internet marketing is to merchandise your inventory well through multiple photos and detailed descriptions. They do this, and they do it very well. EVERY car has photos and descriptions – new and used.

Do you still doubt that this dealer can post their inventory on their Facebook wall and get away with it? Certainly ONLY doing the above wouldn’t warrant that… BUT

…enter the creative part. Here are a few of examples of vehicle descriptions, cut and pasted straight from their website:

“You know, I feel so pure just sitting in this vehicle. It’s like I should put on a button up sweater and some sneakers and sing a melody like Mister Rogers. The vehicle has some type of Good Energy that removes the darkside. I’m going to put in a request to the Prison Board to have all inmates sit in one of these so they’ll become good honest citizens. A 2010 Chrysler 300 Touring with stellar fuel economy, 1 owner and factory warranty. $299 payment on 72 months with $0 down (with approved credit) is nothing short of a Disney movie (in this case, Disney, would be called our Finance Department). After you buy this, can we hold hands and go pick flowers?”

“Driving this makes me feel like I’m doing the waltz on Dancing with the Stars. Carrie-Anne Len and Bruno would be watching me from the audience and I have no doubt that their scores would all be 10. And if it wasn’t whoever gave me less would be run over. Yeah cause that’s how I roll. All 10’s all perfection because that’s what this lovely Journey is. 3rd Row Seating and killer fuel economy is INCREDIBLE. The only thing pathetic is that I’m selling it to you for this kind of price. The way it rides and handles is a dream come true. Call me the Genie in a Bottle because that’s what I do!!!”

“You’ve heard of Michael Myers from Halloween, yeah, well that’s like me at the dealership. I am a nightmare walker, price slashing talker. My machete is my pen and in the end you can NOT escape me. I don’t do a dance, I don’t run, I frigging just throw the ax that says my vehicle still has a moonroof, all power amenities on the inside,1 Owner, and killer fuel economy for an SUV. So think of it as a horror flick but in a good exciting kind of way. You can’t stop me. Just let me do the deed…SAVING YOU MONEY!!!”

I’ve been watching them for a while. I look forward to seeing new inventory shared on their wall. In this highly competitive market, you need something that sets you a part from all of the other 1,000 similar vehicles for sale. These descriptions undoubtedly also get sent to all the websites they participate in. At times, I browse their website JUST to read vehicle descriptions.

If I were a consumer, in their market, do you think this dealer would be memorable to me? Absolutely. Would you look forward to reading these descriptions? I bet you’re already on their website checking them out.

The person that writes these descriptions is a genius and needs a raise and THIS is how you can market your inventory via social media and not only get away with it but have your fans looking forward to more.

(For more information, and to see what I consider to be one of the best inventory marketing dealers I’ve ever seen, check out their website at http://www.bigredsports.com and check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/bigred.sportsimports)

How Social Media Campaigns Can Fall Apart

July 1, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

(originally published on Dealer magazine)

Social Media marketing isn’t just about “doing it.” If you want to succeed, all of the pieces must fit together. You must be committed to doing it.. all of it.. not just some of it.

In this real-life example, I’ll be referring to a few things that I want to define for those unfamiliar with them.

1. Klout – Klout is a company that measures a person’s social media influence by monitoring their usage and actions from others in relation to it. Think of it like a credit score. The highest score is 100. My Klout is currently 61, which is very good. Klout stated that the average users Klout score is 11.

2. Klout Perks – Klout Perks is a service offered by Klout to companies that want to target influential social media users. These companies make offers, through Klout Perks, to these users in the hopes that they will talk about it via social media (ie. passes to movie screenings, etc.)

3. SCVNGR – SCVNGR is a location-based marketing service businesses use to create engagement and drive traffic to their location. Campaigns can be as small or as elaborate as the company wants to make it. Consumers check-in at the business locations and complete specific tasks to earn points towards rewards and/or badges (Think: 20% off your purchase or a free soda, etc)

Now, onto the story…

Subway restaurants recently ran a cross promotion with Warner Brothers for their new movie “The Green Lantern” through SCVNGR. The promotion involved using the SCVNGR mobile app to visit Subway restaurants and complete tasks to earn a free movie ticket to see The Green Lantern. They were only giving out 1,200 tickets so I jumped on it and visited my nearest Subway restaurant two days in a row to complete the tasks necessary to unlock this reward. I did so and SCVNGR delivered to me a free movie ticket (Hey, who doesn’t like free stuff?). Life was good. I liked Subway and appreciated the free movie ticket.

At the same time, Subway was also apparently running a campaign with Klout through their Klout Perks program to offer selected influential social media users a free $10 Subway gift card to try out their newest sub sandwich. That offer was extended to me and I accepted it.I liked Subway even more.

It goes downhill from here…

So, the Subway gift card comes in the mail. I’m not sure who actually sends these gift cards out (whether it’s Klout or Subway), but it comes with postage due of .63 cents. OK, some people make mistakes and I still got $9.37 free food at Subway. No big deal but I tweeted this:

Got offered a $10 @Subway gift card from @KloutPerks and when I got it, it came with $1 in postage due. Still appreciated but funny.

So, I take my wife to see The Green Lantern and, afterwards, decide to visit Subway to use the gift card offer Subway extended to me. I arrive at Subway at 9:50pm and it closes at 10pm. I don’t know off the top of my head what time they close, but I see lights on and I see people inside. As I approach the door, I see the store’s posted hours inform me that they are open until 10pm. When I go to open the door, it’s locked. I get the attention of an employee who comes to the door and informs me that they are closed. I bring it to her attention that it’s not yet 10pm and she tells me that the owner called her and told her to close early. Now remember, there are still people in the store and a couple is even at the counter ordering and, frankly, I don’t believe her.

Frustrated, I go to my car and tweet this:

Went to @Subway before 10pm and they were inside but decided to close early. Said the owner told them to. #fail #lazy #badliars

Frustrated, but still hungry, I left Subway and went to Little Caesars Pizza.

As a social media person, I wanted to see if anyone was paying attention at all, or cared, so I tweeted this:

@Subway @kloutperks Tried to use $10 gift card last night but the employees wouldn’t let me in even though it was 10 minutes b4 closing #fail

Did I ever get a response from either Klout Perks (who was paid to run the promotion) or Subway (who paid to run it)?

No. Not even a peep.

So instead of me tweeting and raving about The Green Lantern movie, the Klout Perks offer from Subway, or their new sandwich which was the whole point of these promotions, what they did was take a customer who engaged them and started happy and turned me into a customer tweeting negative comments. I certainly didn’t hold Subway corporate responsible for the local franchise’s failure, but I did assume that they were active on Twitter so when I heard nothing in response to my concerns, that further frustrated me and left me with the impression that they didn’t care.

The point of this article is to illustrate that merely running a social media campaign in and of itself is not sufficient. If you’re going to enter the social media space at all, you better be prepared to monitor and support the campaign. Failing to do this will result in accomplishing the opposite of what you intended.

The bottom line is that Subway spent money on a social media marketing campaign and Little Caesars Pizza got my money.

(Note: While writing this article, I discovered by chance that while Subway does own the @Subway twitter account, they are not active on it at all. Instead, for whatever stupid reason, they re-direct people from that account to a @subwayfreshbuzz account, which they seem very active on. Why on earth they wouldn’t monitor the other account or, at the very least, monitor mentions of their restaurants is beyond me and a big fail.)

Why Having A Lot Of Facebook Fans Is A Waste Of Time

June 29, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

It amazes me how many dealerships judge their Facebook marketing efforts success by the number of fans they have. People are in awe of that dealership that managed to get 15,000 fans to their Facebook page. Some vendors sell the fact that they will exponentially increase the quantity of fans you have. Dealers give away cars and iPads just to entice people to “like” them on Facebook.

I’m here to tell you that the number of Facebook fans you have is not only irrelevant, but it could be wasting your time and making your Facebook marketing essentially useless.

What do I mean by that? A Facebook fan that is not in your market and will never do any business with you is NOT doing you any good.

If you’re a dealership in California, would you take out a print ad in a Florida newspaper? No.

Why? Because those people aren’t in your market and that would be a waste of money.

Now, some people would argue it’s a numbers game. Get more fans and the chances that your message is heard increases. I’d argue that the only way this is true is if these fans are in your market. If nobody you’re marketing to would ever spend a penny at your dealership, you’re wasting your time.

So what do I think you should do?

In my opinion, building a healthy Facebook presence takes time. It starts at the dealership level where your fans are acquired from actual customers doing business with you and/or coming into your store.

· You make tent cards and spread them out at your dealership.

· You tell service customers about your Facebook page.

· You integrate your Facebook presence into your existing marketing – traditional, in-store and online.

· You hold your contests in your store where actual customers of yours win.

· You get them to share your message with their social networks.

Focus all of your Facebook marketing on acquiring fans that actually CARE about what you have to say and will do business with you.

I’d rather have 100 fans that would do business with me than 15,000 fans that wouldn’t.

Is Social Media Important To The Auto Industry? AutoNation Thinks So.

June 12, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

(Originally published on Dealer magazine)

Many dealerships have realized that social media has become the communication method of choice for people. Dealers came across this revelation via many methods – maybe it was through an article they read, a session topic at a conference, through their OEM’s initiative or through an enlightened member of their staff. Some dealers are just now realizing it while some dealers still don’t.

AutoNation has not only been progressive in their social media campaigns, they’ve created positions within their organization that, to my knowledge, were the first of their kind in the retail automotive industry.

They have a “Chief Blog Officer” and a “Chief Facebook and Twitter Officer” within their corporate marketing department and have designated a “Social Media Champion” at each of their dealerships. They’ve embraced social media at all levels and in every way. These positions indicate a top-down embracing of social media from the corporate to the dealership level.

They took the next evolutionary step yesterday when they announced Alison Rosenthal as a new member of their Board of Directors. Ms. Rosenthal joins AutoNation’s board after leaving a 5 year career as an executive of Facebook.

“We are very pleased to have Alison Rosenthal join the AutoNation Board,” said Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Alison’s technology experience, especially in the areas of mobile applications and social media, will be a valuable resource for the Board.”

AutoNation has run some great Facebook promotions in the past, including “Mosaic” which utilized the Facebook platform to achieve over 36,000 page views in less than 30 days while increasing interactions with fans by over 76%.

Their goal is to be known as the “un-dealer” through online interactions, transparency and responding to their customers. They answer questions publicly that most dealers would shy away from such as financing and invoice pricing as well as proactively seeking out online conversations about their brand, whether that’s through blog articles or social media, and participating. Every customer gets asked to leave online reviews – good or bad.

It’ll be interesting to watch in what ways AutoNation leverages Ms. Rosenthal’s expertise to further engage its fans and increase its already large online footprint.

We’re used to seeing technology companies being acquired by technology companies. It may not be too far in the future where we start seeing technology companies being acquired by automotive industry companies.

Social Media ROI Just Got A Little Easier

June 11, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

(Originally published in Dealer magazine)

Social media has been a hot topic for a while now in the automotive business. As the communities grew, dealers and OEMs started paying more attention. Progressive dealers started social media campaigns while others adopted a “wait and see” attitude. As time progressed and search engines started recognizing the importance of the content generated by the sites, they started integrating data from these sites into their search algorithms (Google includes Twitter content while Bing includes Facebook “Like” data.)

The biggest, and most basic, question that dealers always ask is the same core question that they ask for any advertising medium: How will this help me sell more cars?

Facebook recently announced that it was phasing out FBML in favor of iframes. All those custom landing tabs you created won’t go away… yet, however. If you already have the “Static FBML” application installed on your fan page, you’ll continue to be able to use it for now. It is, however, expected to be phased out eventually with some saying it could go away completely by year’s end.

The advantage of using an iframe on your Facebook page, in simplest terms, is that you now have the ability to use your current tracking software to measure traffic generated by Facebook to your site. An iframe basically allows you to create a “window” within your Facebook page (on its own tab) in which you can show users a website without having to pull them away from Facebook.

Historically, search engines have ignored content within iframes – they see the window but not the picture inside. I don’t know whether this will be changing or not so the SEO value of the framed website may be negligible. Don’t get me wrong, your actual Facebook Page will still be seen by search engines, it’s only the content framed into your landing tab that may not count.

About a year ago, I wrote an article showing people how to frame in their inventory and/or website into their Facebook page. It was great while it worked but it had its drawbacks. The biggest one being that, the easiest “solution” for website integration or display was displaying an existing web page on your site, which framed in your website at its actual size. Your website, in whole, is still much larger than the display area contained within a Facebook tab. This produced ugly looking results with horizontal and vertical scrollbars. Facebook also didn’t allow outside analytics so, while it was cool to have your website or inventory framed in, you couldn’t really tell whether anyone was on your site within Facebook. Facebook then got rid of the ability to implement iframes and limited businesses to FBML.

With their migration back to iframes, and their decision to allow analytics on the framed site, you now have the ability to measure traffic that is viewing your website from within Facebook. You also have much more control over the design of what you display.

My advice to you has several components –

Install the app “Static FBML” on your fan page now. You will not be able to do so after March 11. If you have it before that date, you can keep it. I only say this because, if you decide you would rather use FBML, or some website or SEO wizard determines that a FBML landing tab converts or optimizes better than the iframe, you’ll have the OPTION of using it.

If you decide to utilize iframes, create SEPARATE LANDING PAGES for each tab you create. (ie. If you have a tab “About Us” with a website framed in, create a page (website) just for that tab. If you then decide to add a “Specials” page, create a different landing page for that tab.

Make sure your analytics code is installed on these customized landing pages.

Make pages specifically designed for optimized viewing within Facebook. What do I mean by that? As I mentioned before, by simply framing in existing websites, you end up showing people a very small view of your website and have these scroll bars in which they have to scroll all over the place to see it in whole.

Bottom line:

Facebook landing tab windows are exactly 520px by 800px. Create individual landing pages, with analytics code installed, and sized to view within Facebook. By doing this, you will have an attractive landing tab for your fans AND you will be able to measure conversion and views. Personally, I would create and display some sort of conversion device within the landing tabs, like a “Contact Us” page, or something that could generate some leads.

I’m not promising that you’ll all of a sudden generate massive traffic and leads.

What I’m saying is now you’ll have the ability to track views, test different landing pages and measure conversions…

And that’s the first step towards being able to measure your efforts.

To learn more cutting edge digital marketing strategies, please join me at the 10^th Digital Dealer® Conference & Exposition being held in Orlando, FL on April 19-21, 2011.