Do U Wiggio? (Reading Reflection #2)

Do U Wiggio?

Let me ask you this...how many times have you been in a group, let’s say a group for a class project, and you’ve had to wrestle with your group members to communicate, to find a time and place to meet, to share your drafts for a paper, or anything of the sort? If you’re human, you’ve surely experienced these annoyances.

What if there was an online platform that you could use to make it easier to work in groups…a platform whose primary goal is to relieve you of these hassles. Well, such a platform exists! Exciting, right?! What this information video (below) and learn the basics of what Wiggio has to offer.

Umm…how cool is that!? Now, before I dig into the Groundswell readings and what I took from the most recent chunk of readings, let me give you some background on my relation to Wiggio and how it’s transformed my life

In a last stitch effort to find an internship for the summer of 2009, the summer between my junior and senior year of undergrad, I searched the Facebook Marketplace for internships in public relations. An ad for a PR internship with Wiggio appeared close to the top of the search results. It sounded pretty cool but I was understandably skeptical about the reliability of an ad on Facebook. I went ahead and watched the introductory e-mail (the same one inserted above) and got pretty excited about the opportunity. After a few phone interviews, I was offered the position.

On my first day, I didn’t know what to think. The start-up was based out of a three story home in the residential streets of Cambridge, MA. It was the epitome of a start-up. The founder, Dana Lampert, kept me intrigued.

Dana, the founder and CEO of Wiggio, was 24 at the time. Having generated the concept of Wiggio in a business class he’d taken at Cornell, Dana ran with his idea, received financial support, and began to make this dream and reality. If you ever get a change to meet him, you’ll come to realize that his passion for the company is through the roof. For those summer months, Dana and our small team of interns, did nothing but eat, breath and dream all things Wiggio. Our success was undeniable in that the number of users increased dramatically. As of my last update, in September 2010, Wiggio had just surpassed the half-a-million user mark!

So, now that you know a little bit about my history with the company, let me share some of the things Wiggio does to stay afloat in the groundswell. As you know, hopefully J, the most recent readings we’ve done deal with energizing the groundswell, helping the swell support itself, embracing the groundswell, and learning how a connection to the groundswell could transform a company. Initially, I had a hard time connecting these ideas to an idea, or a company, but I eventually got it! It was actually through my social monitoring project that it came to me. I was doing some research on Wiggio on Addictomatic when I came across users who had posted their love for Wiggio on sites such as Twitter. It was then that I remembered a very important aspect of Wiggio’s culture.

At Wiggio, customer feedback is taken very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that there’s actually an employee whose main focus is monitoring the sites “feedback” mailbox. The submissions include praises, annoyances, technical questions, reports of bugs, and suggestions for improvements. In an effort to create a supportive environment for its users, Wiggio representatives take the time to read, and respond when appropriate, to each and every entry. What’s missing, however, is an open forum for these entries in an effort to resolve issues or questions so they wouldn’t have to answer the same question more than once.

Take the example found in chapter eight of the Groundswell text. In hopes of eliminating the cost of conventional customer service, Dell utilized a support forum to help members support themselves. The support forum works as follows: 1) customer had a question, 2) Dell representative took the time to adequately explain the solution, 3) customer was happy, 4) Over 600 others benefited from this particular entry, and 5) Dell saved a bundle and enabled the groundswell to help themselves. (p.160).

The way that Wiggio currently operates, they don’t offer an opportunity for the groundswell to be self-reliant. I think Dell’s efforts in this regard are excellent and I look forward to my next meeting with the Wiggio team to pose this idea in hopes of helping their business excel in even more areas!

Beyond the creation of support forums, there are other avenues that could be explored to increase groundswell satisfaction. In the tenth chapter, “Embracing the Groundswell,” a case study examined a practice used by SalesForce.com. In their attempt to better understand what their customers needed, they joined forced with the concepts behind “Crispy News” – a program that allows “visitors to vote entries up and down based on what they like.” (p.184). Salesforce.com aimed to hear what their customers wanted. To do so, they launched an Idea-Exchange. Here, customers voice their opinions on the organization and are able to vote on ideas they like or dislike. Thus, the employees at Salesforce.com know what’s most important to their customers – it’s an easy way to create a “corporate to-do list” that’ll undeniably keep the groundswell happy.

What. A. Fantastic. Idea! In a start-up company like Wiggio, customer feedback and ideas are cherished and, often times, implemented. During my internship, I was an integral part of testing the “demo-site” before new changes were synced to our “live-site.” I also played a part in creating ideas on how to make the site more efficient for users. By creating an “Idea-Exchange” forum like the one used by Salesforce.com, Wiggio could get some fantastic ideas from the aficionados and they’d also know how popular/supported an idea was based on the number of votes it’d received. This is urely another concept I’ll be taking to my friends at Wiggio.

So many ideas came out of our most recent chunk of reading. It’s cool to see how these innovative ideas can be applied to a wide variety of organizations and circumstances.  

So let me leave you with this… USE WIGGIO.

Seriously.

Your life WILL be much less stressful and the recently remodeled Wiggio site is so easy to use! And…it’s FREE! Who doesn’t love free stuff?! J

Sign up today on Wiggio’s site. Poke around and let me know what you think about the service. Praises, comments, concerns…let me know and I’ll make sure to send them on to the founder!

Look forward to hearing from you,

Liz

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday (Original #2)

"Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday"

I don’t know about you guys, but I love the restaurant Ruby Tuesdays. I, honestly, could eat there every day…in fact, there have been weeks that I’ve gone there more than I’ve eaten at home. Just ask my poor boyfriend, whenever we think about going out to dinners, it’s almost an unspoken assumption that I want to go to Ruby’s…or, “Rubes” as I affectionately call it.

Okay, okay, I know what you’re probably thinking – it’s just a typical chain restaurant with arguably mediocre food, but they’ve got one thing that really gets me going – a salad bar. I’m somewhat of a vegetarian and I couldn’t love vegetables more…so, the idea of a vegetable free-for-all for the low price of $8 couldn’t be more appealing to me.

I mean, come on…how good does that look!?

So how does this have any ties to social media? Well, Ruby Tuesday’s has hopped on the social media bandwagon. They’ve come to realize that they can reach their customers on the Internet and they’re utilizing that as a tool to propel their business. For starters, the restaurant has what’s called “So Connected.” Basically, you can sign up for free on their website to be a part of this “club” and in doing so, you receive many promotional coupons that will entice the customer to come in. For example, they have a “Buy One Get One Free Entrée” coupon that they send out frequently. How awesome is that?! I don’t know about you, but I’m a broke graduate student who can really benefit from free stuff! They even give out free burgers on your birthday. Sometimes, they’ll send out e-mails asking you to “Like” them on Facebook and in return you’ll receive a coupon for a free appetizer. I think they’ve done an excellent job tapping into their audience through the Internet. It’s costing them very little to provide these offers and in return, they’re getting a band of loyal followers. Think about it – their plan is in action right now! Here I am blogging away about the awesome-ness of Ruby Tuesdays! I bet some of you will even go on to their website and sign up for “So Connected” so that you can start reaping the benefits!

Here, I’ll even make it easier for ya – click here: http://pages.rubytuesdayrestaurants.com/page.aspx?QS=330c754b5e92df74c5001a21711e171204a64d8b8f9cfa5519d03d3ba221e1a1 – they won’t bombard you with unnecessary e-mails, I promise!

Again, I think their efforts to join the groundswell have really paid off. They realized that the media forums are ever changing and they’re taking steps to incorporate these changes into their marketing plans. To me, it speaks to their commitment to the customer. Pair that with their incredible salad bar, and I’m sold!

For those of you who local to the Worcester area, check out the nearest Ruby Tuesday’s located in the Lincoln Plaza over by Target, Dick’s, Stop & Shop…they’ve got a great staff there – I would know, I practically live there! J

Despite what the chorus of this classic Rolling Stones song says, “Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday…” the real Ruby Tuesday’s is experiencing anything but goodbye’s from their customers.

"True Grit" (Reading #1)

True Grit & The Groundswell

"The wicked flee when none pursueth."

            You know, I had a rather difficult time thinking about what to write for this first reading reflection. In all of the reading we have done so far in Groundswell, I’ve found there to be just SO much information – so many examples. It took a while for me to figure out where to take this assignment. It actually wasn’t until I went out and saw the new movie True Grit that I found my inspiration.

            For those of you who may not be familiar, True Grit is a movie that’s in theaters right now. It’s a remake of a 1969 classic and stars actors Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon (!!!). The story follows a 14-year old girl in her attempt to have her father’s killer hung. It’s a long and strategic journey in a sort of old Western-y type of film. At first glance, I thought I’d hate the movie – it’s not really my type. But, I knew it had received a number of nominations and I didn’t think my boyfriend would want to see another “girly” movie, so I caved. It’s actually a fantastic film – I highly recommend it. ANYWAYS, back to my point…in the opening shot of the film presents an old proverb from the Old Testament. It reads, “The wicked flee when none pursueth.” I really liked this quote as I feel like it applies to so many situations in life. Think about it – let’s say you have a bully who likes to get a rise out of his victims. This “rise” will fuel the bully’s fire, however, if the victim doesn’t let it bother him and goes on as if the bully’s actions have no impact, the bully will likely lose interest. Right? It’s an idea that can be applied to many different circumstances, even in the PR/marketing world.

            Now how does this seemingly irrelevant example relate to the Groundswell readings we’ve done so far? Well, I was thinking about the examples provided in Chapter One – the examples that included the photo of Barbara Streisand’s house, the Comcast employee who fell asleep on the job, the digg.com posting of the “forbidden key” code, and others. In all of these instances, the Internet community got ahold of some potentially compromising information and spread it online. What is an organization, or individual, to do when presented with this type of obstacle? The text concludes that, “this movement can’t be tamed. It comes from thousands of sources and washes over traditional business like a flood…it can’t be stopped at any one place. Often it can’t be stopped at all.” (Groundswell 9). With that knowledge under our belt, the job of the organization then becomes a matter of learning to understand and prevail in an ever changing community where information is limitlessly provided and received.

            Think back to the proverb: “The wicked flee when none pursueth.” When an individual, or organization, is faced with negativity that may be circulating on the Internet, it is often best not to pursue each and every quibble that they come across. Once people realize that the efforts to tame the comments out there, they can begin to think of innovative ways to offset them. Remembering all the while that the “rise” that they could potentially evoke in their audience by trying to combat their negative comments could only make them lash out even further.

            Final words of advice: (1) Learn to let it go. Unless it’s an enormous PR crisis, come to terms with the fact that people are going to speak either mind – let ‘em do it. The more you let your audience know you’re “freaking out”…the more they’ll provoke you. (2) Go see True Grit…it’s great!