How Apple Created a New Level of ‘New’ with the iPad

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Scott Gould

We all know that Apple’s marketing and buzz machine is one of the best in the world. So when the iPad was announced, there was every expectation that there’d be the same buzz as always: some people love it, some people hate it, but for sure, everyone is talking about it.

There’s only one problem with Apple’s model, and it’s an issue of anticipation and expectation. Namely, it is this:

Apple do such a good job of hyping and showing the new thing off, that when I get my hands on the new thing, nothing is new anymore.

You know what I mean here. I remember touching the iPhone for the first time, and as cool as it was, the demonstrations on the website had done such a good job of showing the device to me, that physically holding it had little new about it. Continue reading →

People Don’t Remember What Was Said, They Remember How They Felt

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Scott Gould

This is a photo of me, Chris Brogan and Molly Flatt and the Like Minds Summit earlier this year. Looking at it reminds of one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learnt – namely that what I remember from that day isn’t the content we discussed (despite it being amazing), but it’s the feeling of friendship that I had.

Earlier this year I guest posted an article on Search Engine People discussing a simple framework to focus on feeling, because the reality is that when people reach the door, close the laptop, or put their head on the pillow, they don’t remember what was said, they remember how they felt. Continue reading →

Scaling The Levels Of Social Communication

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Scott Gould

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a tweet worth?

One of the things I persistently tell my staff is “get on the phone!” When trying to get information, sort something out, or close the loop on a contract or task, I really do hate it when people leave things to email when they could so easily pick up and phone and do it right there.

Even when my wife says to me “I’ll text them” I say to her, “why text and wait for an answer when you can get one right away if you call!” The other day I even had someone say to me that they hoped so-and-so got their tweet about their meeting. My answer again was, “Phone?”

We seem to have forgotten sometimes that our mobile phone does indeed make phone calls on top of email and tweeting! Continue reading →

First, Make Everyone Feel Special: Social Media Ethics 101

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Scott Gould

I’m struggling to pick what to write about after the incredible weekend I’ve had with those of you at Like Minds. There’s so much to say – not about me – but about the mix of people from all over the world who attended both physically and virtual, both on the day and in the weeks leading up, who made this gathering of like mind what it was and is.

My aim with event planning Like Minds was to not make as much of a conference as it was an experience. It’s something I’ve been doing and talking about for a while, and out of all the incredible remarks people have made about Like Minds (thank you all, so much, by the way), I was thrilled by how many kept echoing my sentiment and agreeing that it was an experience.

Make People Feel Special

Chris Brogan said both on Friday and his blog post on Saturday that Social Media is about making people feel special. I’m so glad he did that. Like I said above, I’ve been hammering on and on (and getting criticised) about experience – but perhaps now that Chris has spoken people will wake up and listen.

I feel silly as I write this because I feel like I’m performing some kind of rank-pulling by using the big names (and while I’m at it, John Bell also agreed) – but I have to get this out and into the community.

If anyone wants to know the secret to our success with Like Minds, I can tell you it in one word: experience.

Experience is what separates the everyday from every day – a compelling experience separates what is so remarkable that you use it every day from the things that are common and just plain everyday.

What Was Said, and What Was Felt

People forget 90% of what was said by the time they reach the door. This knocks all of the arrogance out of you because you realise that saying profound things isn’t as important – or memorable – as making people feel profound.

I think that many things are an experience waiting to happen – they just need to stop making people listen more than people can, and make them feel things instead.

UPDATE: I should’ve said that Like Minds Alumni Vanessa Warwick wrote the same words before I did here.

Photo with many, many thanks to the dedicated Paul Clarke

People Don’t Care

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Scott Gould

John Cass was asking some great questions recently about Transparency in Social Media. Rich Baker was asking similar ones too with regards to Film Four and Vodafone. My response to both was what I say when consulting on Social Media integration for my clients:

People don’t care.

No pretty picture today. No flowery language. Just let the reality hit you: people don’t care.

Remember Eurostar?

When everyone was angry, they went to the Twitter account for answers. The Twitter bio said “Official Eurostar Twitter feed. Not Eurostar customer service but trying to help get information out to our customers as received. Thanks for understanding.” But the truth is, people did’t care. I labour the point here.

If you represent the brand, you are the brand.

If people need anything from the brand, you better be ready to give anything they need -whether it’s your department or not.

The idea of customer care is so your customers don’t have to.

And that calls for some integration. With all the talk of strategy, engagement, conversation and the rest, too many people now vastly exaggerate what they can offer, and unfortunately don’t offer the basics of having something that works.

I learnt that lesson for myself again this week. We are taking registrations for Like Minds Lunch Time Talks and someone complains that the process isn’t easy. It doesn’t matter that it’s because they have to pre-order their food, and is part of us measuring how we are raising £100k for the city. They don’t care. And the truth is, they shouldn’t. They just want it to work.

Question

If you had to offer 3 pillars for integration – and no more than 3 – what would they be?

The Good, The Bad, And The Boring

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Scott Gould

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCpViu8kY3o

If you can’t see the above video, click here.

Compelling is not synonymous with what is good. My favourite book, the Bible, records some pretty bad stuff. Bad, but compelling. In business we want to create good experiences. Actually, scratch that – we want to create great experiences. But the reality is that in life, it is often the most distressing bad experiences that compel you the most. Continue reading →

The Basics Of Expectation Management

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Scott Gould

Yesterday we went through The Pyramid Of Expectation, and understanding how providing compelling experiences (or failing and providing awful ones) is based on your ability to meet expectations. In actual fact, we discussed that it’s no longer enough to meet customer’s expectations (this is merely customer satisfaction), you have to move into the arena of exceeding expectations (which is customer surprise.)

Today I’m going to layout how to go beyond even exceeding expectations and begin to get into the realm of managing expectations. This is ultimately your ability to control what people expect from you – and controlling those expectations means you are able to exceed them every time.

Pyramid of Expectation So first, to refresh your memory and provide a frame of reference, here’s the diagram from yesterday. When it comes to managing expectations, we can do it on all these levels, as we went through. If you under promise and over deliver, you will give customer surprise. It’s a hack job, but you’ll do it. What we need, though, is something more than this, and something which has more sustainability and long term strategy – and we find it is in customer suspense where expectation management really flourishes. Continue reading →

The Pyramid Of Expectation

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Scott Gould

So, I made a bit of a mistake yesterday. I wrote a 3,000 word essay on suspense and brand mystery, rolling in far too many case studies, and providing way more content in one post than I’ve said in past times that one should!

I’m going to, instead, start right at the beginning with a basic overview of expectations. One of the central pillars of a compelling experience is that it exceeds expectations. People are pleased, but not really moved, when their expectations are met. If you don’t meet expectations, then you disappoint people and provide a bad experience. But people are really thrilled and motivated to tell others when they’ve had an experience that exceeded their expectations. Continue reading →

How Apple Creates Suspense, Why Satisfaction Doesn’t Matter, and A Lesson From Star Wars

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Scott Gould

I spoke a while ago on the idea of what I’m calling ‘brand mystery’ – we looked at JJ Abrams’ TED Talk and Lost, and how he tells a story by suspense. He never provides the complete picture, and this is what keeps you hooked. This is contrary to what one copywriter thought when he said “every advertisiement should tell the complete story” – to which I wholeheartedly disagree. Discovering a brand, and unravelling its mysteries, is such a rich experience (and one that I’ve been enjoy since childhood) that it ties you emotionally into it for years to come. Continue reading →