A training must for marketing departments: customers DO talk about your company!

Okay, maybe it's just me. But it seems that there is a blissful ignorance in marketing departments across the country. It goes something like this....

Marketer 1: Do you think customers will notice if we double the prices and start using much cheaper materials in our products?

Marketer 2: Nah. They're all too busy talking on Facebook and Twitter to care.

Why do I think that? And what in the heck does this have to do with company training? Let me tell you.

I just read a rant on a site called "Search Insider: The inside line on Search Marketing"... here's a little taste of what author Gord Hotchkiss had to say:

"...where do hotels get off charging exorbitant rates for WiFi access and then give you a thin dribble of bandwidth that shuts on and off like a bad neon light? Multiply 13 bucks a night by 200 or 300 rooms for an average-sized hotel. That's about $3,000 every day, or a million dollars a year. This isn't rocket science, people. For that money, I should have a data pipe the size of a Volvo plugged into my laptop."

Conversations like this, albeit maybe without Gord's style, are going on, online, every single day!

And yes, they happen on Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter... (and maybe even on MySpace, although I think most of those are limited to random posts from non-existent Scandanavian models looking for cash, I mean American husbands...) but most marketing departments seem to be blissfully unaware of what's being said.

And the people in the big offices upstairs? Even more unaware.

So here is the training part:

• Make sure everyone in your company knows how to use social media.


• Teach everyone in your company how to monitor social media.


• Get people in the habit of using it by creating company blogs, Facebook pages for employees, in-house Twitter accounts and other social tools. As a plus, not only will you be training people on the how-to's, you'll be increasing employee retention because connection=retention.

Not sure about the online world yourself? Look for webinars on social media, listening to buzz online and social marketing, then share the webinars and your new-found knowledge with the rest of the company.

Domino’s employee video goes viral, is poor training to blame?

When you order a pizza you generally trust that none of the toppings have landed in someone’s nose before they made it on your pizza. Right?

Sadly, there’s a new viral video sweeping the Internet that has seriously damaged customers’ trust in one of the country’s most popular pizza chains and two employees are to blame.

A couple of Domino’s employees are now unemployed and facing felony charges after posting videos of themselves defacing food while preparing it for delivery. The videos show an employee breaking various health-code standards including sticking cheese up his nose, putting nasal mucus on sandwiches and passing gas on salami before it made it onto a sandwich.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said a Domino’s spokesman, Tim McIntyre, who added that the company was preparing a civil lawsuit. “Even people who’ve been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino’s, and that’s not fair.” (New York Times)

Company President Patrick Doyle has posted a YouTube video of his own apologizing for the unacceptable behavior of these two infamous employees and asks that customers continue their support, despite the embarrassment it has brought to the company.

"You can be the safest driver, you know," McIntyre said. "But there's going to be that Friday night someone's drunk and comes from out of nowhere. You can do the best you can, but there's going to be the equivalent of that drunk driver that hits the innocent victim." (Advertising Age)

You hope that most employees would have enough common sense to refrain from illegal activity at work, let alone film it and post it on YouTube, but some may need a reminder from time to time.

A great way to remind employees how to act online when representing the company is through regular training. After you’ve developed a sound social media policy (read our guidelines for social media use), it’s time to explain the policy and consequences for not following that policy to employees.

How formal or informal your employee social media use training will vary depending on the nature of your business, but should give employees a clear understanding of what is considered acceptable online behavior when representing the company.

There’s no doubt that your policies and social media guidelines will change as new technologies and social networking tools emerge, so it’s best to provide training on an on-going basis.

The best way to defend your company against an unfortunate situation like what Domino’s is going through right now is through preparation. It’s impossible to control what employees will say about you online, but with clear policies, employee training and the proper planning, you’ll be in a much better place to handle any issue.

Do you think poor training could have played a role in Domino’s current dilemma? Does your organization train employees on how to represent the company online?

Six tips for setting up a computer security policy

We talked last week about the lengths some organizations will go to train employees to avoid phishing scams. Before you start sending test scams to everyone in your network, you should have the right computer safety policy in place for employees to follow.

In a recent Business Week tip, security evangelist Ryan Naraine shared some helpful information on setting up computer security policies. The information came out of a conversation with a friend who was in the process of establishing an online printing business and looking for ways to keep his business safe from online intruders.

“The nature of Web-based threats, drive-by malware downloads, and clever social engineering attacks make it nearly impossible to be fully secure,” wrote Naraine.

After acknowledging that fact, there are six “must-do” tasks that can help strengthen your defense:

1. Invest in security software and make sure signature databases are current. When you’re exploring security options, ask the vendor about approaches to “whitelisting” (application control), “behavior blocking,” and the use of “herd-intelligence.”
2. Stay on top of the latest patches for Web server and desktop software programs. Set limitations as to what employees are installing on their computers and avoid programs that lack auto-update mechanisms. Keep an eye on patching known vulnerabilities in applications that are constant hacker targets, including applications like Adobe PDF, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime, RealPlayer and WinZip.
3. Make it a policy for employees to use the safest Web browser for certain sensitive transactions. Avoid using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for high-value transactions since it is a popular target for hackers.
4. Establish strong password policies. A strong password should be between 8 and 20 characters, have a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. The longer and more complex a password is, the harder it is to crack.
5. Block access to unnecessary network services and social networking sites. Hackers prey on the trusted nature of sites like Facebook and MySpace to trick users into installing malware on their computers. If an employee doesn’t require Internet access to do their job, don’t give it to them.
6. Have a system in place to deal with accounts of former employees. Make sure that e-mail accounts and access to sensitive parts of the network are shut off as soon as they lave the company.

Remember that your first line of defense against an online attack is your employees. Employees who are trained on the threats of online dangers are your best asset.

Keep employees trained on the latest online threats and give them the necessary tools to protect their computers and you’ll be taking two big steps to improving the security of your company. Ensure your network remains safe by periodically retraining employees to keep up with hakers’ evolving tactics.

Improve training, involve employees like Best Buy

How do you get employees engaged in training?

Have them make the employee training videos.

It may sound easier said than done, but it’s exactly how Best Buy managed to increase their 401k participation by 30% last year.

As the story goes, Best Buy’s HR team was struggling to find a way to boost their low 18% 401k participation rate. It looked like they were facing an uphill battle with more than half of the company’s employees are under the age of 24 and not the least bit worried about retirement.

So, in attempts to motivate their young employees, Best Buy launched a contest on their social networking site, BlueShirt Nation. Employees were challenged to submit motivating videos about what 401k plans mean to them.

The contest lasted just three months and Best Buy’s 401k participation had jumped to 47%, an almost 30% increase.

Here’s the winning video ...






Thanks to HR Marketer for bringing this great story to our attention. Have a Happy Friday!