MBA Geek

There’s a lot that has been written on the web about the benefits of using Social Media to engage more closely with customers. There are many benefits to doing this, but it also presents a number of challenges in how to direct the conversation and how to avoid negative perceptions like lack of control or message dilution. It’s interesting to start seeing people address these issues to and here are a couple of articles that might help in this regard.

• The many challenges of Social network sites
• Appreciating the challenges of social networking sites

The great thing about these sites is that they offer easy access to companies to meet their target demographic. Regardless whether you’re a mainstream player like CocaCola or a niche market like a small company selling hgh spray, social networks put you in touch with the people who matter most to your business: your customers.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of eSmart Tax. All opinions are 100% mine.

Here’s an interesting promotion that’s being run by an American Tax filing company called E-smart tax. They have a product that lets people file their tax returns online walking you through all the steps that are needed, collecting your information and preparing all the forms you need to submit. They have a number of different offerings ranging from Basic service which is free, all the way to a Signature service that includes tax advice and actual time from a Tax Professional. As I said, the Basic service lets you file for free, but they’re introducing a promotion to make the Deluxe offering available for some people.

So, how do you know if you’re eligible for the free Deluxe service? All you have to do is answer one question “Is your last name Johnson?”. Yup, they’re making the product available for free to anyone who’s last name is Johnson, which is apparently the 2nd most common name in the USA, with more than 2 million people fitting into this bracket. It’s an interesting spin that will definitely get people talking .. especially if their surname is Johnson; and it’s one way to introduce your product to a cross-section of the population spread all around the country. So, now that you know that Johnsons file free, the question I have for you is: Are you a Johnson?

It’s with great pleasure that I can announce that we’ve managed to resolve both our claims for compensation with RyanAir and FlyBe. It does show that most companies do have procedures for dealing with the problems that arise from time to time. I do intend to follow up all this with a thank you letter. I think it always makes good sense to give feedback on this sort of event, because this does encourage this sort of repeat behaviour. If you treat companies that give you service like they’re the scum you get out of pond filters, then you can hardly expect to get a decent service, can you!

Interesting post on the New York Times by Dick Brass who used to be a Vice President at Microsoft. He talks about what he believes is one of the downfalls of the company; that it stifles innovation when instead it should be nurturing it. He describes a number of cases where great ideas were sacrificed for personal ambitions; a symptom of an organisation that is politically motivated. This sort of organisational behaviour can be detrimental in the long run and it’s up to the company in question to solve these problems.

Innovation has driven a large part of our life. Without the advances in technology we take for granted today we wouldn’t have fibre optics, or high speed satellite internet. Heck, we wouldn’t even have a wii or Playstation to play on! Who knows what life would be like today if innovation was stifled everywhere?

Do you use a Smartphone, maybe an iPhone, a Blackberry or an Android phone? If so, you’re the target market for one of the many applications that can use GPS to determine where you are and share the information with your friends. The problem with these applications however, seems to be that they have limited lasting appeal which could be a problem when one looks at their market penetration. So, if you’re thinking about investing in one of these firms; it’s worth waiting to see if someone can develop a way to keep the market engaged. In the meantime, it would be better to put your money in psoriatic arthritis treatment or exotic investments, you may get more joy from there.