Facebook. My Space. Ning. YouTube. Blogspot. Flickr. CafeMom. Twitter. Fark. Digg. Scribd. So is your head spinning yet? These are some of the more established social media and networking sites – are you using them to communicate with your customers? What about viral emails? Do you know how to respond when they are used to damage the reputation of or spread incorrect information about your center? Do you know what kind of blog traffic your center receives?
Social media is one of the most cost effective forms of PR and advertising on the planet – in fact it’s generally free. Its RT (real time) accurate, easily changed and updated, and the vast majority of shopping centers are not even scratching the surface of the power of this medium. Wondering where to start? Here are some DIY suggestions to get you started in social media that will take virtually no time to set up and only minutes or so a day to maintain:
Facebook & My Space
You use them at home or on your iPhone right? You should be using them for your center! Create a Facebook and a MySpace page for your center and start signing up friends and/or fans. It’s simple – just go to facebook.com and myspace.com and create an account profile. Just follow the instructions to set up your pages to your preferences and you’ll be all set. Be sure to post photos of your center as well as videos if you have them. Hint: Post your center’s most recent television ad, footage of a great news story about the mall, or a video tour of your center. Use your current press release boilerplate for the description section (sometimes called “About Me”) and post your recent press releases, PDF’s of your ads and news stories and a link to your center web site. Once you have your page set up (and be sure that you set up your profile so that anyone can see it) use the invite friends features to invite everyone on your current email mailing list to become a friend/fan. Once you have everything you need gathered it should take you less then 30 minutes to set up your page.
The next step is updates – keeping your pages fresh and up to date is simple. Log in every morning and in the update section simply post what is going on at the center that day in a line or two of text. Hint: Sale information free gift information, new stores, or event information work really well. Your merchants can help – just ask them what’s going on in their stores! Upload any new photos videos or PDF’s, and answer any posts on your profile page and you are good to go. Facebook and MySpace work in very similar ways – on average, most folks I know who use these tools spend 5-10 minutes per day (usually with their morning coffee) updating their pages.
You can also use Facebook and MySpace to communicate with niche audiences. Create pages for your kids club, your stroller mom group, your teen board, or your mall walkers (Yes, seniors use Facebook too – especially if someone takes the time to teach them how. Sounds like a great community event to me!) You’ll be amazed at the results. Your goal is to communicate in real time and create a network of shoppers who believe they are getting the inside scoop. Test it out for yourself for just $200. After your pages have been up and running for several months and you have a fairly good amount of friends/fans, post an offer that the first 20 customers to come to your Customer Service Center with the code you post on a specific date, get a free $10 gift card. You’ll be amazed how fast those cards are claimed. Do something like that regularly with your network (a special free gift for the first 50 kids club members, a free coffee mug for the first 25 mall walkers, etc.) and you’ll have shoppers in the habit of visiting your site daily to see what’s in it for them.) Once you have Facebook and MySpace set up, consider…….
YouTube
YouTube is one of the most widely used social media sites in the world. It’s easy to use – usually all you need is the video files that your digital camera can take. Real estate agents started using YouTube in force about 3-4 years ago to give video tours of homes for sale. Your center can use it to give video tours of the center, of available inline and common area spaces, and of your RMU’s or other equipment. Post videos of special events – perhaps Santa can record a message for the kids. Post videos of activities such as press conferences, awards ceremonies, performing groups (be sure to have your subjects sign a release form). Believe me – the parents and family members of those in the videos will flock to the site to view them. When they do other videos you have posted will pop up as viewing options – and chances are good they will view those too! The files need to be of good resolution and if there is narration the sounds needs to be clear – other than that there is nothing to it. Simply go to youtube.com and follow the instructions to create an account. Shoot your videos (again the video option on most digital cameras creates very usable files) then follow the directions to upload them. Hint: Be sure to post these on your Facebook and MySpace pages too!
YouTube users will find them when they search but you can also direct them to the videos on YouTube from your web site and ads. Imagine if you posted a 2 minute clip of the performing groups that visited your center at Christmas. If the parents of each child in the group view the video then pass it on to just 5 of their family members and friends who pass it on to just five of their family and friends….. Well you get the picture. You have gone viral in a few clicks and in doing so created good will, exposed thousands of people to your center in a fun interactive way, and started a buzz among your shoppers. Chances are good that your competition isn’t doing this! The great thing about YouTube is that you can post as often or as little as you need to – once you have your account set up, just post things of interest. (Hint: the more you post, the bigger your following will become!) So you have videos posted on YouTube and are ready to try something a little more robust. Consider…..
Blogging:
Blogs are the newspaper of the new millennium. It seems just about everyone has a blog for just about every reason and everyone is now a reporter. If you do a Google Blog Search on your center’s name you will probably be stunned at how much blog traffic your centers gets. Some common themes: responses to news stories posted on web sites by the local media, movie reviews on films showing at your theaters, real estate locators, restaurants reviews, store customer service compliments and complaints retail product reviews, clubs that meet in your food court that you did not know about – the list goes on and on. You may be surprised to learn what is being said about your center out there in cyberspace for the entire world to see. Aside from your normal Google alerts for news on your center, be sure you are getting Google Blog Alerts so that you have some idea what is being said about your center via bloggers.
You can use blogging to promote your center your events, your stores – just about anything! You can create your own blogs at myspace.com, blogspot.com or blogger.com. Just log on follow the easy steps to create your blog add some photos of your center and a brief description (usually your boilerplate will work great) and you are in business. Be sure to set up the appropriate monitoring devices to eliminate undesirable language etc. (Most sites give you the option to approve comments before they post via a simple email notification.) The trick to successful blogging is keeping your blog fresh and updated. Remember when you write for your blog you need to use spoken English rather than written and write for an online audience who communicates at the speed of real time (ie: the fewer words the better). Invite everyone on your center’s email mailing list to follow your blog and participate. You can write about just about anything but the best thing about blogs is the opportunity to carry on a real time communication. Ask your followers what news stores they would like to see, what events they enjoy the most or what things about your center are favorites or irritants. They’ll tell you! There is nothing like blogging to stay up to the minute connected as well as for use as a little informal market research. Best of all most blogs take only about 15 minutes a day to maintain and keep fresh.
Progress In Our Industry:
The use of social media has been slow to happen but things are starting to speed up. Search “shopping mall” on Facebook and you’ll get over 500 from around the world! Check out King of Prussia Mall on Facebook as a great example a place to start – this center has fan pages created by shoppers! Now that’s a network. Bluewater Shopping Mall in the UK is another great example. Many of our retailers also have pages – check out The Cheesecake Factory and Gap on Facebook as more great examples especially when it comes to setting up fan pages.
ICSC is also starting to use social media. In the coming weeks look for a Facebook presence for CMD’s with a network where CMD’s can connect, discuss industry issues, share ideas for center marketing, and stay in touch. Other designations may follow. In addition, pages to help those looking to achieve their designations find a place to network and meet “study buddies” now that the test is given online are in the works. The intent of these pages is to create additional value in the ICSC professional designations for those who have already achieved them and to create a forum for those working to achieve them.
A Word About Social Media In A Crisis:
Social media is also one of the most under utilized tools on public relations, specifically in a crisis. In my opinion your center’s most valuable asset is its reputation and in this day and age, anyone can damage that reputation with a couple clicks of their mouse. The most common forms of damaging social media are viral emails and negative blog posts. Most often, you know when one of these emails is making the rounds and if you start using Google Blog Alerts you’ll know about the blogs. From now on start responding. Here’s how:
Get your hands on every possible copy of a viral email. Ask friends business associates – basically anyone you know anyone they know etc to forward the copies they have received to you. Chances are they probably are already sending them your way. Create a response statement that is concise and states the facts about your situation. If possible work with local law enforcement or your center security to refute the information spread in the incorrect email. Once your response is prepared, create a generic email – either within your company’s server (for example [email protected]) or create one using one of numerous free services like gmail or hotmail. Then simply type in every email address from every copy of every version you received in the BCC space and send the email to yourself. In about an hour a day you can respond to everyone who received the false viral email. Hint: Be prepared – you may get responses from people wondering how you got their email address. I recommend simply stating that concerned customers forwarded the email to the center and that the center is responding to all email addresses that received the original email. I assure these folks that all responses were sent BCC and that these email addresses will not be used for any other purpose. Depending on the content of the email you may also want to send a release to the local mainstream media stating that the email is false and why – in many cases they will call you asking about it.
The same goes for false blog posts. You see these most often in response to news stories that appear online and then get copied in to blogs. You can, and should respond. Use a shorter more concise version of your email statement and include a web site or email address for those who want to contact you for additional information and post it as a response comment on the blogs. Respond to all legitimate blog posts you can find. Hint: Be prepared for your posts to set off a flurry of discussion and have thick skin. Once you have posted your comments, in almost every case you should not respond to the follow up comments no matter how bad they may be unless someone else posts seriously factually incorrect info. Responding to opinions is not your goal.
So are you ready to really look at the world of social media and networking? Beyond Facebook, MySpace and YouTube is a whole world of social media and social networking just waiting for you and your center. Check out http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/ for a comprehensive list of social media and networking sites categorized by interest. If your center has a niche this is a great place to find a social media site to fit! I encourage you to make it one of you 2009 goals to start utilizing this largely free ultimately effecting and perfect DIY medium to the benefit of your center.
Social media is one of the most cost effective forms of PR and advertising on the planet – in fact it’s generally free. Its RT (real time) accurate, easily changed and updated, and the vast majority of shopping centers are not even scratching the surface of the power of this medium. Wondering where to start? Here are some DIY suggestions to get you started in social media that will take virtually no time to set up and only minutes or so a day to maintain:
Facebook & My Space
You use them at home or on your iPhone right? You should be using them for your center! Create a Facebook and a MySpace page for your center and start signing up friends and/or fans. It’s simple – just go to facebook.com and myspace.com and create an account profile. Just follow the instructions to set up your pages to your preferences and you’ll be all set. Be sure to post photos of your center as well as videos if you have them. Hint: Post your center’s most recent television ad, footage of a great news story about the mall, or a video tour of your center. Use your current press release boilerplate for the description section (sometimes called “About Me”) and post your recent press releases, PDF’s of your ads and news stories and a link to your center web site. Once you have your page set up (and be sure that you set up your profile so that anyone can see it) use the invite friends features to invite everyone on your current email mailing list to become a friend/fan. Once you have everything you need gathered it should take you less then 30 minutes to set up your page.
The next step is updates – keeping your pages fresh and up to date is simple. Log in every morning and in the update section simply post what is going on at the center that day in a line or two of text. Hint: Sale information free gift information, new stores, or event information work really well. Your merchants can help – just ask them what’s going on in their stores! Upload any new photos videos or PDF’s, and answer any posts on your profile page and you are good to go. Facebook and MySpace work in very similar ways – on average, most folks I know who use these tools spend 5-10 minutes per day (usually with their morning coffee) updating their pages.
You can also use Facebook and MySpace to communicate with niche audiences. Create pages for your kids club, your stroller mom group, your teen board, or your mall walkers (Yes, seniors use Facebook too – especially if someone takes the time to teach them how. Sounds like a great community event to me!) You’ll be amazed at the results. Your goal is to communicate in real time and create a network of shoppers who believe they are getting the inside scoop. Test it out for yourself for just $200. After your pages have been up and running for several months and you have a fairly good amount of friends/fans, post an offer that the first 20 customers to come to your Customer Service Center with the code you post on a specific date, get a free $10 gift card. You’ll be amazed how fast those cards are claimed. Do something like that regularly with your network (a special free gift for the first 50 kids club members, a free coffee mug for the first 25 mall walkers, etc.) and you’ll have shoppers in the habit of visiting your site daily to see what’s in it for them.) Once you have Facebook and MySpace set up, consider…….
YouTube
YouTube is one of the most widely used social media sites in the world. It’s easy to use – usually all you need is the video files that your digital camera can take. Real estate agents started using YouTube in force about 3-4 years ago to give video tours of homes for sale. Your center can use it to give video tours of the center, of available inline and common area spaces, and of your RMU’s or other equipment. Post videos of special events – perhaps Santa can record a message for the kids. Post videos of activities such as press conferences, awards ceremonies, performing groups (be sure to have your subjects sign a release form). Believe me – the parents and family members of those in the videos will flock to the site to view them. When they do other videos you have posted will pop up as viewing options – and chances are good they will view those too! The files need to be of good resolution and if there is narration the sounds needs to be clear – other than that there is nothing to it. Simply go to youtube.com and follow the instructions to create an account. Shoot your videos (again the video option on most digital cameras creates very usable files) then follow the directions to upload them. Hint: Be sure to post these on your Facebook and MySpace pages too!
YouTube users will find them when they search but you can also direct them to the videos on YouTube from your web site and ads. Imagine if you posted a 2 minute clip of the performing groups that visited your center at Christmas. If the parents of each child in the group view the video then pass it on to just 5 of their family members and friends who pass it on to just five of their family and friends….. Well you get the picture. You have gone viral in a few clicks and in doing so created good will, exposed thousands of people to your center in a fun interactive way, and started a buzz among your shoppers. Chances are good that your competition isn’t doing this! The great thing about YouTube is that you can post as often or as little as you need to – once you have your account set up, just post things of interest. (Hint: the more you post, the bigger your following will become!) So you have videos posted on YouTube and are ready to try something a little more robust. Consider…..
Blogging:
Blogs are the newspaper of the new millennium. It seems just about everyone has a blog for just about every reason and everyone is now a reporter. If you do a Google Blog Search on your center’s name you will probably be stunned at how much blog traffic your centers gets. Some common themes: responses to news stories posted on web sites by the local media, movie reviews on films showing at your theaters, real estate locators, restaurants reviews, store customer service compliments and complaints retail product reviews, clubs that meet in your food court that you did not know about – the list goes on and on. You may be surprised to learn what is being said about your center out there in cyberspace for the entire world to see. Aside from your normal Google alerts for news on your center, be sure you are getting Google Blog Alerts so that you have some idea what is being said about your center via bloggers.
You can use blogging to promote your center your events, your stores – just about anything! You can create your own blogs at myspace.com, blogspot.com or blogger.com. Just log on follow the easy steps to create your blog add some photos of your center and a brief description (usually your boilerplate will work great) and you are in business. Be sure to set up the appropriate monitoring devices to eliminate undesirable language etc. (Most sites give you the option to approve comments before they post via a simple email notification.) The trick to successful blogging is keeping your blog fresh and updated. Remember when you write for your blog you need to use spoken English rather than written and write for an online audience who communicates at the speed of real time (ie: the fewer words the better). Invite everyone on your center’s email mailing list to follow your blog and participate. You can write about just about anything but the best thing about blogs is the opportunity to carry on a real time communication. Ask your followers what news stores they would like to see, what events they enjoy the most or what things about your center are favorites or irritants. They’ll tell you! There is nothing like blogging to stay up to the minute connected as well as for use as a little informal market research. Best of all most blogs take only about 15 minutes a day to maintain and keep fresh.
Progress In Our Industry:
The use of social media has been slow to happen but things are starting to speed up. Search “shopping mall” on Facebook and you’ll get over 500 from around the world! Check out King of Prussia Mall on Facebook as a great example a place to start – this center has fan pages created by shoppers! Now that’s a network. Bluewater Shopping Mall in the UK is another great example. Many of our retailers also have pages – check out The Cheesecake Factory and Gap on Facebook as more great examples especially when it comes to setting up fan pages.
ICSC is also starting to use social media. In the coming weeks look for a Facebook presence for CMD’s with a network where CMD’s can connect, discuss industry issues, share ideas for center marketing, and stay in touch. Other designations may follow. In addition, pages to help those looking to achieve their designations find a place to network and meet “study buddies” now that the test is given online are in the works. The intent of these pages is to create additional value in the ICSC professional designations for those who have already achieved them and to create a forum for those working to achieve them.
A Word About Social Media In A Crisis:
Social media is also one of the most under utilized tools on public relations, specifically in a crisis. In my opinion your center’s most valuable asset is its reputation and in this day and age, anyone can damage that reputation with a couple clicks of their mouse. The most common forms of damaging social media are viral emails and negative blog posts. Most often, you know when one of these emails is making the rounds and if you start using Google Blog Alerts you’ll know about the blogs. From now on start responding. Here’s how:
Get your hands on every possible copy of a viral email. Ask friends business associates – basically anyone you know anyone they know etc to forward the copies they have received to you. Chances are they probably are already sending them your way. Create a response statement that is concise and states the facts about your situation. If possible work with local law enforcement or your center security to refute the information spread in the incorrect email. Once your response is prepared, create a generic email – either within your company’s server (for example [email protected]) or create one using one of numerous free services like gmail or hotmail. Then simply type in every email address from every copy of every version you received in the BCC space and send the email to yourself. In about an hour a day you can respond to everyone who received the false viral email. Hint: Be prepared – you may get responses from people wondering how you got their email address. I recommend simply stating that concerned customers forwarded the email to the center and that the center is responding to all email addresses that received the original email. I assure these folks that all responses were sent BCC and that these email addresses will not be used for any other purpose. Depending on the content of the email you may also want to send a release to the local mainstream media stating that the email is false and why – in many cases they will call you asking about it.
The same goes for false blog posts. You see these most often in response to news stories that appear online and then get copied in to blogs. You can, and should respond. Use a shorter more concise version of your email statement and include a web site or email address for those who want to contact you for additional information and post it as a response comment on the blogs. Respond to all legitimate blog posts you can find. Hint: Be prepared for your posts to set off a flurry of discussion and have thick skin. Once you have posted your comments, in almost every case you should not respond to the follow up comments no matter how bad they may be unless someone else posts seriously factually incorrect info. Responding to opinions is not your goal.
So are you ready to really look at the world of social media and networking? Beyond Facebook, MySpace and YouTube is a whole world of social media and social networking just waiting for you and your center. Check out http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/ for a comprehensive list of social media and networking sites categorized by interest. If your center has a niche this is a great place to find a social media site to fit! I encourage you to make it one of you 2009 goals to start utilizing this largely free ultimately effecting and perfect DIY medium to the benefit of your center.