User-review sites, when shills go wrong

Urbanspoon, the user review site and social network for foodies, has been running a contest to find the "most romantic restaurant" in cities across America. Great idea with Valentine's Day coming up, this could guide a lot of people to try new restaurants they may not be aware of. The problem is that many of the results across the nation are indeed not at all romantic.

I first noticed the problem in Salt Lake, where a bar was leading the vote for several weeks. Not a romantic one by any means. After discussing with many of Urbanspoon's prime members (users who make significant contributions in each city) it was discovered that the problem was very widespread, and frequently due to restaurants inflating the votes themselves by encouraging customers and employees to vote for them. Now I totally condone restaurants asking customers to make their vote, or write a review on these sites. But employees are definitely crossing an ethical line, and asking for a vote that is truly undeserved is not only unethical, but it will backfire on the restaurant, the site, and the credibility of the users.

Shill reviews are always a bad idea. A shill is a positive review for your own business, or posting a negative review for a competitor. People often take advantage of the anonymity of the web, thinking they can say whatever they like with no consequence. The problem is that it is really easy to spot a shill, and once discovered you will feel a worse fate than just a few bad reviews.

In regards to this Valentine's Day contest, if someone looked to this poll to make a decision on a date-spot, then found themselves at a very unromantic place, it's not going to sit well in their minds. There are few experiences in life that carry worse feelings than a failed date. When a restaurant is a factor in a bad date, the customer typically won't give that spot another chance because of how disappointed they were on their visit. The total experience matters when customers are trying a new business, and a bad first impression is a lasting feeling that is not easily cured.

You may think it's all out of fun, or believe that some good attention may get you new customers, but if you get customers under false-pretense the backfire can spread quickly and will turn that target audience against you.

Twitter: value or wasteful?

You've heard the research, 40% of all tweets are useless babble, and social networks are being blamed for school-age kids' poor use of grammar. It is the constant joke in the media that all tweets must include "LOL" & "OMG." But is Twitter really useless?

Do you measure your television viewing because of the crap on TV, or never listen to the radio because there is a station you don't like? Writing off Twitter because of some people's updates makes as much sense as not using television advertising because of a program you don't like. I'm currently looking through the DirecTV guide, and out of the hundreds of channels to choose from, there may be 4-5 that I will ever select to watch. Meanwhile, I have run across hundreds of people on Twitter that are worth following. So which one is really the useless medium?

Just like any form of media, there are many different users, messages, and audiences. The key is to measure every media by the value it provides, not the irrelevant noise.

Hype vs. truth: Mobile apps

If you follow the industry buzz, or talk to app developing agencies, it sounds as if everyone is madly buying apps for their smartphones. However, a recent study found that 45% of smartphone users have never bought an app. Also, more than 38% spoke of their frustrations regarding the cost of apps.

61% of app purchases are music, which narrows the market for app buyers down significantly. Of the customers who purchased apps, 87% spent less than $50 on apps total last year.

So what is the truth? Are apps hot, or not?

Yes, they are hot. But if someone tells you that you have to have one, and it is a guaranteed revenue channel, they're exaggerating. Actually, outright lying. This is how buzzwords are used to manipulate how we view the world. Apple, Motorola, and other device manufacturers are advertising about apps because they are a feature that many customers are looking for. More than a billion apps have been downloaded from Apple's iTunes App Store. The hype is used by the get-rich-quick types to push app development, and next thing we know, many businesses are creating mobile apps that no one wants.

Reality is, a great mobile app can help customers connect with brands, if it is the right fit. The key is to know your audience, and what they want. Follow your customers, not the industry buzzwords.

It's the Cola

Pepsi is a very successful company in its own right, however their pursuit of Coca-Cola can be compared to one thing.

Wile E. Coyote keeps ordering new tools, trying new tactics, and continually fails to catch the Roadrunner. The only winner in Wile's incessant attempts is the Acme Company who continues to profit off of him.

Do you really want to catch the roadrunner, or should you set your sights on something different? Why spend all that money to make Mr. Acme rich?

Back in the better days, Pepsi was the choice of a new generation. Their advertising had a fun and youthful feel that still applied to everyone (remember, no matter how old we are, we want to be thought of as young). Though Coca-Cola has always been number 1, Pepsi wasn't too far behind. It was this threatening market position, and the results of the Pepsi Challenge that led Coca-Cola to make the colossal mistake of introducing New Coke.

Coke reversed their mistake, and for the most part kept their message strong. Meanwhile, Pepsi continued to chase them by using every celebrity and package redesign possible. In 2002, sales of Pepsi were 35% behind Coca-Cola in sales. The slogan was "Think young. Drink young." Then they abandoned the new generation. 2003 brought "The joy of Pepsi." 2004, "It's the cola." Now they are attempting to "Refresh Everything."

Notice anything about the new slogans? They're all head-on attacks against Coke. Joy, refreshment, and all about being "The Real Thing" are brand essences of Coca-Cola. The Acme Company was selling Pepsi countless logo revisions while their advertising messages were making people think about Coke. Today, they sit 41% behind the real thing.

When it comes to your business, do you want to be Wile E. Coyote, and constantly chase the Roadrunner? Or would you rather set a goal that won't have you always the one to have the anvil drop on you?

Ranting about the snake-oil sellers

Search engine optimization has been a major buzz-word for a number of years now. While there are a handful of good practitioners out there, there are also a great number of people who are the equivalent of yesteryear's snake-oil salesmen. They know all the keywords, they have all the answers, yet they haven't worked a day in an actual brand-marketing environment. Once you're at the top of the search results, are you actually delivering anything to keep the customers thinking positively about you?

The barrier to entry is low for the internet, which attracts all of the get-rich-quick crowd. It can be very frustrating for a business who is looking for help, when so many seem to have all the right answers. These snake-oil pushers are now excitedly entering the social-media market. They can set up a Facebook fan-page, a Twitter account, and tell you about sites like Urbanspoon, Yelp, and Foursquare. They have quick-tricks with tools to get you thousands of followers. But once you get past the talk, have you really made a meaningful connection with anyone?

There is a great likelihood that they can make you feel great about everything you are paying them for, and they likely can tell you all about the thousands of businesses they have helped. Just like the street-side vendors who could make your hair grow, cure leprosy, and fix all of your problems with a simple elixir, these SEO or social media "gurus" will be quick to sell you tools and tactics to promote your business and get you to the top of Google.

The problem is, being a top result on Google doesn't pay your rent and overhead. A communication strategy is needed, products must meet customer expectations, and customers must want to interact with you. Social media and SEO are a piece of the puzzle, but if that is the only focus of your consultant, you may be left with an empty bottle of snake oil.

Burger King to get into the bar business

Burger King will open a new extension to their fast-food empire in February 2010. The Whopper Bar in Miami will be a new type of restaurant where customers can get beer and burgers with a familiar logo backing up the new concept. Burger King will sell Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beers along with a special menu of burgers and toppings.

While the obvious challenges will be how to handle the new concept with a new labor structure, considering most fast food restaurants are staffed by employees under 21, and this will require an older workforce, what do you think of the brand implications and their choice to partner with the domestic mass-market brewers?

The big-three brewers (which recently became the big-2 with the acquisition of Coors by Miller Brewing) have been facing a loss of growth recently and have all been financially challenged. Each of these companies has been part of industry-wide consolidations to secure their financial position, while microbrews and imported beers have been increasingly greater in demand. Should BK have tried to ride the wave of the up-market beers rather than partnering with the mass-market drinks? It would seem that bargain-hunters may be the target market for Bud, Miller, and Coors, yet will that crowd be enough to make this new concept successful?

Another interesting challenge is that the name "Whopper Bar" was introduced in Universal Studios theme park, as an upscale location that focuses on Whopper customization. This location will not change to serve beer, which would lead to a fragmentation of the Whopper Bar brand.

What do you think? Is BK making the right alliances, and are they sending mixed messages by having multiple formats under the same name?

Amazon has a deal you cannot refuse

Amazon is yet again shaking up the world of books. To promote sales of electronic books to the Kindle, they are offering a 70% royalty to authors. For those unfamiliar with how much authors make, this is a huge increase. Of course, accepting the new 70% terms come with a catch.

The terms to accept this benefit are not what most would guess. Amazon is not trying to force writers into only distributing through them, but is trying to make Kindle purchases more attractive to buyers. To receive the increased royalty, the book must be priced between $2.99 and $7.99, and must be priced 20% less than the listed price for the physical book.

Faced with the same circumstances, many other companies may have tried to force exclusive deals to make their device more attractive. But this plan makes the product more attractive to both customers and suppliers of the content, which should pay off in the long-term for Amazon. When customers and suppliers are happy, it makes a much better business.