www.thechair.gr

Why must a business even enter in the process of investing human resources to explore and utilize the social media sphere? Many nice things have been written. We would like to add our own and completely practical and distilled conclusions so far. Not simply another theory.

This general market crisis simply gives the opportunity to reconstruct the way to do your work and business. In fact it gives tremendous opportunities, in a way that organizations who seem to have an issue with promotion to set the base ground for a better and meaningful one. Any business, whatever the scope and function.

By doing serious Social Media actions:

• Governments can rise and fall. Literally. Though in the term “governments” we include a range of things. Aren’t they?
• The reputation of an organization can rise and fall. True.
• The results can come fast. Indeed. The more a team is well tuned and with strong will the faster it will come.
• Size matters. Of course related to the desired result, the scope, target and available time resources. 
• You can’t push things to happen before their time. True, but related to what exactly you want to happen…
• Being informed, courageous, sincere, honest and act for a a good cause will bring out results. True all the way.
• The “stock market” of Social Media values utilizes people and their will for a good result. Not simply “money good”. 
• Better now then never. True also. Also true is the term “real” and “proactive”.
• Clear goals=Achievable goals
• Clear goals + ignorance= waste of time. 
• Waste of time + ignorance = knowledge
• Knowledge + clear goals = success
• Test, change, measure, wear, develop, measure and tailor again.
• Research and + application= success.
• You may see the goal at the end of the tunnel but it’s people who will tell you if your sight is good and what you really see.
• Open mind= Targeted actions.
• Closed mind = Hopes and only that. 
• Break even comes after the point where profit begins. 
• Measure all that has any reason to be measured. Also true. 
• Everything is People. Forget technology. It’s just stands there.

So, what it takes to do some serious work in Social Media? Completely empirically we can say that it takes knowledge and an open mind.

And some associate reminded me these days, through a saying of John Maxwell:

“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails”

Therefore …

• Do it right
• Be realistic
• It has a cost but not what they think it has.

The thing is that the very star rating standard of hotels (5 stars, 4, etc) is under reconsideration.

As many countries adopt this rating system for their hotels all these years (or under modification like Abu Dhabi) the fact that some (like British Tourism authorities) consider to change it is a huge thing to ponder upon. It becomes the fact that the star rating system is good for big hotels but somehow studies say it’s injustice for small hotels who don’t have the amenities to provide but they serve an excellent personal touch in comfort and food.

References for the same topic can be seen here:

• http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/user-reviews-set-to-replace-hotel-stars-in-britain-2193504.html
• http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=20149_0_11_0_C

To cut it short… If hundreds of your hotel visitors say that your hotel is excellent then this, as it proves, influences not only your wealth and reputation but also shifts mentalities of countries.

The story behind the story

Actually this article is related to various posts and articles we have published about the importance of social media and e-reputation, plus the new aspects of hotel marketing. Also, points out the significance of visitors experience and their ability to actually influence the market worldwide. Through the last years reviewers and visitors of Trip Advisor, for example, have influenced the decisions of many for their leisure or business destination. High and low ratings shift opinions around. But Trip Advisor is only one (yet huge) source of info. Depending the country someone lives reads, monitors, searches and gets advice from a big number of resources. Like blogs, rss aggregators, other social media environments (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc).

All these environments have shifted from being simply a “web log of experiences” but with combined actions become a tool and a Decision Information System which works in a common for all language.

It’s a huge change out there. Even if only some countries adopt the change still is big.

The whole hotel marketing environment is changing for good.

We decided to adopt Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It’s still early to pinpoint specific things we need to be improved but we find that first and early impressions from the usage and usability of such a big environment are crucial.

The reason is that –according to our opinion- a CRM must be easy, flexible and the user has to be able to play and familiarize with it in a day or two. Ok, for specific tasks and the philosophy behind the adaptation of a CRM, a more in depth training is needed but one should be able to grasp it fast.

Otherwise it will end up to another difficult software.

We have to say that it is a very good environment. It’s easy to get around with it and actually it helps sales people to drive through it via a rather nice logic it has. I would however wanted the Import Data functionality to be more flexible, but I am OK with it so far. Perhaps in future enhancements this procedure would be more flexible. The whole application seems to work (almost) well with MS Outlook 2007 also. Apart from a few glitches to work around with the Contact’s folder. On the other hand the very same “glitches” show eventually how must someone have fully organized his pack of business or other contacts. Actually, we got some ideas and combinations I had never thought before and we are glad about it.

There are 2 versions to choose from. A “cloud” based one and a local one. Each one has it’s benefits depending on what a company really needs. However, we see everything in the market going to the “clouds”.

It’s logical. Apart from some security concerns, it’s far more flexible as a concept.

The decision for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM wasn’t an easy one. We tested various platforms both locally hosted and cloud based. We also tested open source ones. So far, we do not think that for something to make you feel safe an open source is the solution. We are familiar and work extensively with open source logic both for our clients and our projects. We love php, mysql and all related. We believe in open source for any platform or environment and support it.

But for CRM tasks, for Marketing and Sales we just didn’t feel we found something robust and flexible in open source. Even in the commercial open source area. There were “OK” environments but not just quite right. On the other hand some cloud solutions were very good but too expensive.

We will update this article or post another for the same subject as we move on with the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Well, we love Microsoft windows phones and especially windows phone 7. Particularly now with this amazing interface they have we love them more. We are in technology both in it’s business aspect as well as the fun aspect. We are strong in our belief that windows phone platform is here to stay. It has unparalleled advantages in terms of usability, speed, ease of doing things. It’s, as they correctly say in their advertising video, the platform phone that will save all from their phones… Funny? Well, yes and serious the same time.

We develop applications for this platform and we think it as a revolutionary concept. Thus, we made this website/blog which is all about windows phones and especially the WP 7 series. It’s our community offer and our playground the same time. We serve content with our research and usability and more tests and opinions. It’s not just another info-blog. All content there has gone through research and this adds quite some points on it, isn’t it?

So, here it is: www.wpcentric.com. A website for windows phone 7 series and all related and around this topic and only that.

Stay tuned and get the feed. Subscribe and read. We will announce more things there as we go deeper in this wonderful platform.

Γιατί μια επιχείρηση να μπει καν στη διαδικασία να επενδύσει ανθρώπινους πόρους για να εκμεταλλευτεί τη σφαίρα των social media; Πολλά και ωραία έχουν γραφτεί. Ας προσθέσουμε και το δικό μας εντελώς πρακτικό insider’s view και όχι απλά θεωρίες.

Η κρίση που υφίσταται απλά δίνει την ευκαιρία για αναδιάρθρωση του τρόπου εργασίας. Ουσιαστικά δίνει απίστευτες ευκαιρίες ώστε οι επιχειρήσεις που φαίνεται να έχουν πρόβλημα στην προβολή τους να θέσουν τις βάσεις για ακόμη καλύτερη και πιο ουσιαστική. Όλες και οποιασδήποτε μορφής και λειτουργίας.

Κάνοντας σοβαρές Social Media ενέργειες:

• Ανεβαίνουν/κατεβαίνουν κυβερνήσεις. Κυριολεκτικά. «Κυβερνήσεις» είναι πολλά πράγματα όμως, έτσι;
• Ανεβαίνει κατεβαίνει το reputation. Αλήθεια.
• Το αποτέλεσμα μπορεί να έρθει πολύ γρήγορα. Πράγματι. Όσο πιο οργανωμένη μια ομάδα και συντονισμένη και με θέληση τόσο πιο γρήγορα.
• Το μέγεθος παίζει ρόλο. Ανάλογα το επιθυμητό αποτέλεσμα, το στόχο και τον διαθέσιμο χρόνο.
• Δεν μπορείς να πιέσεις τα πράγματα να συμβούν πριν την ώρα τους. Σωστό μεν, ανάλογα τι θες να κάνεις να συμβεί όμως…
• Η πληροφόρηση, η ειλικρίνεια, το θάρρος και ένας καλός σκοπός θα βγάλουν αποτέλεσμα. Αληθινό πέρα για πέρα.
• Το χρηματιστήριο αξιών των Social Media αξιοποιεί τους ανθρώπους και τη θέλησή τους για να βγει καλό αποτέλεσμα. Όχι απλά καλό σε λεφτά.
• Κάλιο γαιδουρόδενε, παρά γαϊδουρογύρευε. Πέρα για πέρα αληθινό. Επίσης αληθινό και το business term “proactive”.
• Στόχοι ξεκάθαροι=στόχοι εφικτοί.
• Στόχοι ξεκάθαροι + άγνοια= χαμένος χρόνος.
• Χαμένος χρόνος + άγνοια=γνώση
• Γνώση + στόχοι ξεκάθαροι= επιτυχία
• Πατρόν, κοστούμι, δοκιμή, αλλαγή, προσαρμογή, παραγωγή, μέτρηση και πάλι πατρόν.
• Έρευνα + εφαρμογή = επιτυχία.
• Μπορεί να φαίνεται ο στόχος στο βάθος αλλά ο κόσμος θα σου πει αν βλέπεις καλά. Ναι. Και τι βλέπεις.
• Ανοικτό μυαλό=Στοχευμένη ενέργεια.
• Κλειστό μυαλό=Ελπίδες και μόνο αυτό.
• Το break even γίνεται από ένα σημείο και μετά. Εκεί που ξεκινάει και το κέρδος.
• Μέτρα ότι έχει νόημα να μετρηθεί. Αληθινό και αυτό.
• Όλα είναι άνθρωποι. Ξεχάστε την τεχνολογία. Απλά είναι εκεί.

Άρα τι χρειάζεται για να γίνει σοβαρή δουλειά στα Social Media; Εμπειρικά εντελώς μπορούμε να πούμε ότι χρειάζεται γνώση και ανοικτό μυαλό.

Και όπως μου θύμισε και ένας συνεργάτης σήμερα μια ρήση του John Maxwell…

“O απαισιόδοξος παραπονιέται για τον άνεμο. Ο αισιόδοξος τον περιμένει να αλλάξει. Ο ηγέτης προσαρμόζει τα πανιά του.»

Οπότε…

• Να γίνει σωστά
• Να γίνει ρεαλιστικά
• Έχει κόστος, αλλά όχι αυτό που νομίζουν