#Twog, a brick of trust.

In thinking about a recent chat about business, one word just nailed me: Trust.

Books, you need it. Speaking, you need it. Blogging, still need it. Twitter - check. 

It's why an audience or client returns for more. The theme is pretty much endemic to life. We take innumerable leaps of faith daily.

Driving - trust. Turning on the water - trust. Sitting in a chair - trust. Entering credit card information online - trust. It's everywhere.

What can we do with this information? Well, I just started trying, and will continue to try, to promote the idea of a #twog. A combination of a tweet and a blog. The idea is to generate trust in content.

What to do with a twog? Bridge the gap between tweeting and a blog. Most importantly, establish trust that you respect the reader's time.

Nothing happens without trust.  Get twogging.  140 words at a time.

A time to #twog. Twog - n. a short blog entry of roughly 140 words.

Why #twog?

Everyone is super busy. You stopped by, and thanks for that. But you need to go soon.

In thinking about my own time constraints, I wished people would make a clear concise point, and wrap it up. So give me a #twog.

If you have a more technical or robust topic, your #twog can migrate a reader from tweet to full blown blog.

The #twog provides the extra information needed for the reader to decide whether to proceed. It's their time. Respect it.

You have, on the honor system, 140 words to make your case. Use them wisely.

Gotta go. See ya!

PS – Try some #twogging and see if it works for you.

The 10th Anniversary of my Financial Freedom Looms! #BLOWOUT #FREE #PRIZES #CONTESTS -

   Sept 10th, 2003, is a date I won't forget. I was nervous as hell. Heart palpitations, hand wringing, you name the nervous tick, I was on top of it! It got so bad, I called my doctor and explained that I was probably dying of a heart attack. He was not persuaded, and told me to calm down. Ha! If it would have been that easy, I'd have done it from the start. OK, I guess I was being slightly hysterical.

   As evidenced by this and other posts, I made it. But in spite of the work and effort that went into growing Omega Insurance Services, it all seemed unreal. Less than seven years before I was designing my logo in Word while I made sales calls from the kitchen table off a rental apartment. So this day was truly dreamlike, with me mentally waiting for the alarm to go off.

   Obviously, that did not happen. We convened in a boardroom, in an atmosphere of absolute levity, and signed the final documents. The "transfers" were made into my accounts. Wow. While a myriad of things led to that moment, that was the finish line. The moment when everything actually changed. A bizarre mix of elation, sadness, exhaustion and a burst of energy seemed to inhabit my body. All the while I continued making all the appropriate noises, "great to be on board, and "this is going to be awesome" (it was already pretty awesome). Poker face central.

   Fortunately I was saved by a party we were throwing. Nobody, outside a few key people, knew what was happening, a party seemed a good way to "cushion the shock".It did, in part, do exactly that.

  Which brings us to the impending 10th Anniversary, and the "virtual" party we'll be throwing to mark the occasion. And in the spirit of open disclosure, there is a major book promotion for "Alphabet Success" at the heart of the festivities.

   The questions most of you have been waiting for are: 1) What are you giving away? 2) What are the prizes? and 3) What are the contests?

1) We are giving away free copies of my new Kindle book, Alphabet Success from 12 midnight Pacific Time to 12 midnight Pacific Time on September 10th, 2013.

2) The prizes include: 20 - $25.00 Amazon.com gift certificates, and $1,500 in cash prizes. That leads us to our final answer...

3) I'm not saying. The day of the event we'll be interacting with people on Twitter (@alphabetsuccess) and LinkedIn. Primarily the former. It will be a little like a radio show. We'll make an announcement, and something will be happening that you need to respond to in real time. For example (a good one, wink wink) you might need to be the 8th person to retweet a given Tweet or comment on a LinkedIn message. But there are plenty of other methods that will be employed to give out cash and prizes, but we're not saying until the day of the event. For the purpose of clarity:

The contests will be conducted on September 10th, 2013. With the exception of one contest for which the winner will be decided later. The times will include a bit of September 10th around the world, since I have followers in pretty much every time zone. I'm going to try to online for as long as Red Bull and adrenaline will keep me in the game, but we may hit some down time due to my human form.

Will it be fun? Yes  Do you need to buy anything to win? Absolutely not!

For more information, please contact me at tim@alphabetsuccess.com

Social Media Maladies...

   We have a problem. Or rather, there are some folks with a problem. They have latched onto the social media universe without first addressing their existing condition. A complete disconnect between their marketing and their operations.

   As an example: Nobody expects velvet glove treatment from Ryanair (an European budget carrier). They don't promise it, and they don't deliver it. You get: a seat, take off, and landing. Everything else is pretty much an add-on. While sometimes people moan about it, they haven't really broken their promise. We might find their handling a bit akin to that of an aggressive shepard, but that is us just not being used to their model. Once you accept the model, as promised, you understand it. And as they would like tell you, "take it, or leave it." They do take off and land, and they make money. Pretty simple. 

   I use Ryanair. I am never disappointed. The conditions are known to me in advance, and I accept them in exchange for a great airfare, and often, the avoidance of a connecting flight. In relationship terms: We have an understanding.

   It is much, much worse to splash out money on all this touchy feely social media blather being concocted without the people writing it having an in-depth understanding of the service or product they are writing about. As an "Elite" member of a couple of  "conventional" airline programs, and a very frequent traveler, there is ripe territory here for examples.

  This fresh off the press at Lufthansa's Twitter feed:  "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life... And I'm feeling good" Really? Well, I am a customer and I am not. Where are my missing air miles? The one's I wrote you about in April. Did they go missing with the "new dawn"?

There has been plenty of communication with the Lufthansa Miles and More program. I have had a few problems with flights where I doubled checked that my number was on file and still did not get credit for the flight. OK, stuff happens. One example: On April 20th of this year I contacted them with information about miles missing from one flight segment, on a two segment ticket. The e-mail promised: "We received your feedback with the number COM-1187086 and will start the processing immediately." I hate to be predictable, but you might already gather it did not happen, even though I sent them a copy of the boarding pass. 

Subsequently I wrote them again, and was promised an answer in 30 days. When I responded (with a bit of anger) that it had already been requested before, I got this automaton response:

"Thank you for your enquiry.

The processing of your request could take up to 30 working days (excluding weekends and holidays) and we trust that we can count on your patience. 

Kind regards,

Miles & More Service Centre

   The main point is the cavernous disconnect with their positively chirpy Tweet and the reality of dealing with them after using their service and simply asking them to credit an account as promised. With reference to the above mail - "Um, maybe you cannot count on my patience, it left the building." Sadly, and they likely know this, I have limited other options, but I have left them for protracted period before even though it is a massive hassle to do so. 

  Obviously I am angry. Why? Because they didn't do what they promised. If there was no Miles and More program, I wouldn't have a single thing to complain about. The flights were fine, I got where I needed to, the Lufthansa personnel on board were pretty good. But execution extends to every promise made. If you doubt this, try it out in a personal relationship.

   That needs to be thought about in every communication. Social media or otherwise. You are telling us who you are, and what you are going to do for us. Frankly, the ability to fix areas of disconnect is an opportunity to really shine. All companies, like people, make mistakes. Fixing them quickly is what can make you look great. But when you resort to auto-feed response, that's a broken promise. Especially problematic when dealing with someone who is using your service often enough to worry about your loyalty program. 

  It's not rocket science. Communication follows execution, and they MUST be connected.

  Still no miles.  :-(...

  Mack Morrison sings it best in "Return of the Mack" 

   "all this time you said that i love you 
   you lied to me 
   yes you did yes you di-i-id 
   you lied to me 
   all this time you said that i loved you 
   you lied to me 
   yes you di-i-id..."

     Actually a good song, to finish this up, the video actually has a jet in the opening sequence...LOL....anyhow, here's the video. http://tinyurl.com/4yb3lg