The Roundtable on Social Media Measurement and Metrics continues at Third Tuesday Toronto

May 13, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • KatiePaine, socialmediameasurement, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

How do I measure the effects of social media on me and my organization?

At every conference I attend, most speakers present examples of the “successful” use of social media by individuals or companies. Most of these success stories are primarily anecdotal. Measurable results that can be compared to benchmarks and across other cases are much harder to come by.

This places social media at a distinct disadvantage in the C-suite, where executives are used to being presented with Web analytics, market data, conversion data and other metrics that show them that progress was made against an objective. In the absence of some types of replicable and comparable measurements and metrics, how can the case be made that there are benefits to social media that justify any risk and expense of adopting them?

This month`s Third Tuesday Toronto has a panel of measurement experts who will lead us in a discussion of how we can move beyond social media as a faith-based initiative to measure its effects and contributions to the achievement of organizational objectives.

Leading our panelists will be Katie Paine, President of KD Paine and Partners and author of Measuring Public Relationships. Joining Katie will be Marshall Sponder, the Chair of the Web Analytics Association`s Community and Social Media committee, and Marcel Lebrun, President of Radian6.

Our panelists will be arriving at Third Tuesday straight from the Roundtable on Social Media Measurement and Metrics. So, this will extend the conversation beyond the roundtable into the broader social media community in Toronto. And we`ll be recording this session so that we can pick up quotes and snippets of the discussion for inclusion in the White Paper that we will be writing following the Roundtable.

So, if you’re interested in a good discussion with some smart people who know a lot about measurement and, like us, are looking for ways to measure the impact of social media, sign up to attend Third Tuesday Toronto.

As always, this event will be free to anyone who wants to participate. Thanks to CNW Group who have sponsored us throughout the year and wherever Third Tuesdays are held. You keep the community in social media.

Customer service is the new marketing

May 7, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, SaulColt, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

Freshbooks lives in the open wilds of social media. The officers and employees blog and use twitter. Customers respond in kind. So far, all has been good. But what happens when a disgruntled customer attacks?

Michael McDerment argues that by being transparent and proactively communicating with people, a company like Freshbooks builds up a reservoir of good will that causes most people to hold their fire when the company trips up.

Saul Colt tries to handle the situations in which people are angry. His approach: “First rule, you can never win one of these arguments. So treat people with the utmost class and respect. Never get into a shouting match. Kill these people with kindness. If they have a problem, try to work it out in the most level headed way. Never ignore people. I try to answer any blog post we can find, even if it’s a ‘hey we love you’ post. … We really believe that customer service is the new marketing.”

Saul provides an example of how Freshbooks dealt with an actual disgruntled customer. Watch the video to get the complete story.

Final note. This is the last of the series of posts with videos of Freshbooks’ appearance at Third Tuesday Toronto . I hope that you found them interesting and informative.

Other clips with Freshbooks’ Michael McDerment and Saul Colt :

A Fresh(books) approach to social media by Dave Fleet

Building a Winning Team

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers

Online media deliver results. But traditional media still add legitimacy

There’s no shortcut past setting realistic expectations

You have to trust people

May 6, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, SaulColt, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

It should be apparent from the series of posts about Michael McDerment ’s and Saul Colt ’s session at Third Tuesday that Freshbooks is a very social media savvy organization.

Not only does CEO Michael McDerment blog, but at least five other employees also blog. And there will likely be more.

So the obvious question: What will you do if one of your employees messes up and gives out a company secret or does something to hurt the company? Do you try to curb your employees’ blogging?

Michael McDermont: “It comes back to hiring. You’ve got to find people with shared values. And at the end of the day you have to trust people. … That’s the best you can do.”

It strikes me that this is a problem for large organizations which, by their nature, lose the ability to ensure fit between employees and company culture. But having acknowledged that, for organizations that still are of a size where this is practical, McDerment focuses on exactly the right place – management’s hiring decisions and attitudes.

Other clips with Freshbooks’ Michael McDerment and Saul Colt :

A Fresh(books) approach to social media by Dave Fleet

Building a Winning Team

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers

Online media deliver results. But traditional media still add legitimacy

There’s no shortcut past setting realistic expectations

When hiring a PR firm, there’s no short cut past setting realistic expectations

May 5, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, publicrelations, SaulColt, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

The road is littered with disappointed clients and fired communications agencies. One of the primary reasons for this is a failure to establish clear and realistic expectations at the outset.

It’s hard for a company to look a proffered contract in the face and say, “Hold on. Let’s be sure that your expectations are reasonable before we start.” But it’s absolutely essential. And the companies that have the courage to insist on this step will only help themselves in the long run.

This was driven home during Mike McDerment ’s and Saul Colt ’s appearance at Third Tuesday Toronto .
McDerment says of Freshbook ’s first use of a PR agency. “We cut it off after four months. Because nothing happened.”

Picking up on this Saul Colt suggests, “We had different expectations than some of the PR companies we have worked with. We have the greatest story in the world. So we can’t understand why we can’t get coverage in some really desirable places. … PR companies should sit down and say, ‘hey, you’re about to sign a contract and we just want to let you know that you’re not going to be [in all the places you want.’”

Good advice from clients who have seen the wrong side of disappointed expectations.

Other clips with Freshbooks’ Michael McDerment and Saul Colt :

A Fresh(books) approach to social media by Dave Fleet

Building a Winning Team

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers

Online media deliver results. But traditional media still add legitimacy

Freshbooks: Online delivers the results, but traditional media still bring legitimacy

April 30, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, SaulColt, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

The essence of the Third Tuesday gatherings are the exploration of social media capacity to build communities of interest. That can be communities that are driven by individuals. It can also be communities that grow around a company or a service.

Freshbooks is a company that has seen a sense of community grow among its users and around it. So, it’s not surprising that several of the questions from the audience to Freshbooks Michael McDerment and Saul Colt related to how they view traditional and new communications channels.

“From day one, we’ve paid for advertising,” says Freshbooks founder Michael McDerment. “Google pay per click, search engine optimization, we baked that into our marketing efforts. That’s our foundation. … Gradually, we started networking and eventually we brought on PR.”

McDerment says that most of the value of Freshbooks’ investments in PR have come from social media. Yes, they’ve been in traditional media such as the Globe and Mail, Profit Magazine, the National Post – and they expect to be in more of this. However, states McDerment, “We see more impact from a blog post than we do from the Globe and Mail.”

Saul Colt adds: “Traditional media goes a long way toward legitimizing your brand. But our core customer base is living online. … This is where a lot of our success has come from. At the same time, while I consider it “ego advertising”, features in magazines are so important for so many reasons. Besides the warm feeling you get when you buy the magazine with yourself in it, it just legitimizes everything. Because there are tons of people who aren’t in the [online] places we’re in, but could be great for us to know and be top of mind.”

McDerment agrees, “Traditional media helps us to reach other markets.” And he notes that while a blog post may have more direct impact on Freshbooks business, appearances in traditional mainstream media still matters to most people. They think, “You were in that magazine? You must be so successful.”

Other posts about Freshbooks’ Michael McDerment and Saul Colt at Third Tuesday Toronto :

A Fresh(books) approach to social media by Dave Fleet

Building a Winning Team

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers

Building a winning team

April 29, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

Companies, even the ones driven by the most powerful ideas, are not the work of one person alone. Sooner or later, every entrepreneur must come to grips with the need to build a team that can build a dream into a successful reality.

Freshbooks has been on a recruiting tear lately, bringing in talent like Saul Colt , who was behind the launch of ZipCars in Canada, and Mitch Solway , the former VP of Marketing at Lavalife .

In this video clip recorded at Third Tuesday Toronto , Freshbooks founder Michael McDerment talks about the effort that should go into recruiting and hiring and the rewards from doing it right.

“We hire for fit. … You’re building a team. You want an extension of yourself and somebody you can trust has got your back. We spend an inordinate amount of time hiring. That makes some of the other things a lot easier. If you find people with shared values, who are smart people and get things done, then I don’t have to worry about it. … I’m constantly trying to put myself out of a job. My goal is to have nothing to do. Everyone else is doing stuff. Me, doing nothing. … It comes down to hiring. And if you can find people with the right fit and shared values, they will make financial decisions and others that make sense.”

Interested in more about Freshbooks’ appearance at Third Tuesday Toronto?

Dave Fleet: A Fresh(books) approach to social media

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers

Your next great business idea may be staring you in the face

April 28, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Freshbooks, MichaelMcDerment, SaulColt, ThirdTuesday, ThirdTuesdayToronto

How many entrepreneurs woke up and said to themselves. Eureka! I’ve got a great idea. I’m going to set up a business so that I can spend all my time doing invoices.

The answer? None. Er. Check that. Maybe one. Michael McDerment .

Four years ago, Michael founded Freshbooks which offers small businesses online invoicing.

Look around your current business. You may find a new, better business opportunity

In this video clip from Freshbooks’ appearance at Third Tuesday Toronto, Freshbooks founder MIchael McDerment gives heart to anyone who dreams about leaving behind the sell-it-by-the-hour business model. He was running a services company and found that he needed an invoicing program. So, he built it. And that’s the foundation of what today is Freshbooks.

See other posts and videos of Freshbooks’ appearance at Third Tuesday Toronto:

Dave Fleet had a good overview of the event: A Fresh(books) approach to social media

Freshbooks: Don’t talk about the product. Talk about what it means to people

Freshbook Execs listen and respond to customers