Category Archives

Archive of posts published in the category: Business Management

5 Aha Moments at Social Media Marketing World 2014

In my Bizzabo one-liner for the conference, my goal was “to learn, connect and geek out”. Check, check and check.
What I hadn’t counted on was having lots of fun, being in such a positive, friendly environment and having quite so many “aha moments”, starting with: Employees are your Secret Superpower

4 Tips for Managing Online Reputation

The preceding post outlined some basic steps in monitoring the reputation of your organisation or brand online.

It is important to know what is being said about you online, but what can you do about it?

Four simple actions to take are:

1. Claim your business
2. Take care with the information that you can control
3. Get the basics in place before promoting your message
4. Respond carefully and immediately

Continue reading for details and slideshow of examples of poorly managed online reputation.

Example of Best and Worst Practice in Tourism Online

Researching and booking a recent trip to lovely Lisbon, I was struck by how one can get it so right and so wrong, in simple ways.

As always, it boils down to solid customer care and business communication principles, regardless of the technology employed.

A simple, friendly email from a B&B contrasts with impersonal responses to poor Tripadvisor reviews by a doubtless better resourced hotel chain.

Continue reading for more details and screenshots of the ‘best and worst’ tourism communications…

5 Tips for Emailing Attachments

Explain it to your grandparents and it seems like wizardry of the highest order: documents, images, contracts, music – anything – teleporting instantaneously across the globe to limitless recipients; an inestimable boon to business communications.

Email has transformed business, but its very simplicity and speed leaves it open to misuse and poor standards.

Attaching files to email, in particular, is a potential minefield.

The bottom line, as always in e-business, is that solid business principles are fundamental to success. In this case, respect for your correspondent, attention to detail and expectation management.

Continue reading for 5 simple tips for maintaining professional standards in emailing attachments…

How Not to Treat Your Hotel Guest

UPDATE: Following a 5-star apology from the management for unprecedentedly poor communication due to staffing issues, what I had presented as “A lesson in shoddy guest relationship management by Ashford Castle”, must now, in fairness, be presented as a salutary tale in client communications management in the context of staffing changes.
…………………….
My original post included screenshots of the impersonal blanket email I received in response to my comments on their feedback form, not forgetting the piece de resistance: “COMCABAD”: the outrageously dismissive, impersonal Word template attachment.

Continue reading for how not to treat your hotel guest…

Favourite Moments at the Dublin Web Summit

Although the presenters were interesting, engaging and expert at the Dublin Web Summit last Friday, they were not the best thing about the event. It was an absolute pleasure to be surrounded by positivity and creative thinking at every turn. Not one of the dozens of people I spoke with whined or complained about the government or the economy; it was all new ideas, possibilities, innovation. That respite from doom and gloom alone made attending worthwhile.

Continue reading for my take on the most devious, obvious, comforting, alliterative (ahem), clever, challenging and reassuring moments of the event…

3 Things To Know About Short URLs

1. What is a short URL?

A short URL (Unique Resource Locator, or website address) is a truncated website address that redirects to a longer address when clicked……

2. How are short URLs relevant to your business?

3. Any downsides to using short URLs?
….

3 Really Useful Websites

“What has the Internet ever done for us?” The WWW is often justly criticised for the volume of vacuous junk and time wasting possibilities it offers. However, there are some fabulous resources online; in this post I recommend three really useful reference websites: Snopes.com, Thesaurus.com and The Economist Style Guide.