True effectiveness of Facebook ads?

In the latest video I talked to great length and positives about Facebook ads. I felt that I need to clarify that a bit. I posted a picture of one (ad) in particular that had a few thousands people and I got about 30% likes out of that reach – A great result. Well turns out perhaps too great.

After speaking to a marketing friend of mine he reminded me about fake accounts as he investigated this particular post and noticed that it’s all female, middle east, Asian sounding names, accounts with similar profile photos, first name only (or obvious fake names) and few friends.. I am aware of these myself but had targeted many of his identifications this

1. Female – personal advertising choice by me so this checks out.
2. Middle east and Asian sounding names – One big difference from past promotions was to try to target different types of emerging markets, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. This was hence expected.
3. Accounts with similar profile pictures – This was something I hadn’t really thought about but could agree some out of a 5% sample was indeed very similar.
4. Few Comments – Indeed, the ad (based on a blog article) had zero comments.
5. First names only or obvious fake names – This was indeed a greater sample size,  perhaps as great as 10-20% of the total pool. This was indeed strange. Again, this could be a cultural or demographic difference, but worth noticing.
6. Few friends and few images – While some accounts had 400+ friends, some ahd as low as 20. With that said; When I had a personal Facebook account I had around 98 friends which in some eyes could potentially be very few and a very locked down profile where I only had profile pictures and no personal/tagged images.

As such, many of his indications had reason for me to question the actual value of the target reached on Facebook. As a test I turned of the emerging markets from the demographic reach and as such I lowered the LIKE rate with 100%. That’s right! For a full 8 hours I’ve received 0 new likes down from about 1 per minute at it’s most rapid rate. 

THAT if anything is very very strange indeed. I will run this ad through out it’s period of 14 days and be able to see the direct result of this change.

My friend also sent a few links that is very interesting to read. They indeed highlight the very same issues I was having with advertising towards emerging market (but on a much, much higher budget). I think you should read these to, if you are going to target Facebook as your advertisement platform with or without emerging markets! Remember, if it seems to good to be true, it’s proboly not. 

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mans-600000-facebook-ad-disaster-2014-2

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-fake-facebook-likes-are-created-2015-3?r=UK&IR=T

Video Log Episode 5 – The first week

I know right. A video log on how to start a company? Is that even possible?

Special Edition 80’s opening theme!
Squeezing in another video before the part 2 of my data analysing video. I’ve been live for 1 week now, Huzzah! This is to commemorate that and talk about the number of sales, advertisement and problems and thoughts I have running this type of business!

Video Log Episode 4 – Part 1

I know right. A video log on how to start a company? Is that even possible?

This is a mandatory video. I am just saying. You NEED to analyse, utilise and tap into that data. This is a 2 part video. First out is the backbone of your shop, the product. What works well, what doesn’t work and how much do they cost. Also apologies for the distracting background mess, currently moving houses!

Video Log Episode 3

I know right. A video log on how to start a company? Is that even possible?

Episode 3 is all about dealing with failures. Let’s face it, we all will fail at some point. Some sooner then others. One of the first issues you might run into is that you starting to doubt yourself or that creativity/inspiration fades.
I talk a little about that here and how to overcome it!

Video Log Episode 2

I know right. A video log on how to start a company? Is that even possible?

Episode 2 is all about working from home. It’s different, trust me.

Video Log Episode 1

I know right. A video log on how to start a company? Is that even possible?

Well, lets see. This series will follow the birth, start and progress of an e-commerce business based on the Shopify platform, aliexpress and drop-shipping.

This is absolutely uncut, no script and raw. No retakes or rehearsals. If I want to say something, I will. Otherwise, I will probably just end up rambling on because I like to hear my own voice!

What to expect throughout the series

• Uncut material
• Bad editing
• Useful tips in how to get into the entrepreneurial mindset
• Less useful tips
• Failures
• Successes
• Me

Lastly, Not for profit mindset (we will never ask for donations, subscribes or likes because fuck that, literally hate that youtube mentality. If you like what you see, you’ll come back by your self

The downside of Pepperi

Pepperi is the leading provider of mobile sales and B2B e-Commerce apps for brand manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. Pepperi’s cloud-based products are available in 12 languages and used by customers in more than 50 countries worldwide. Available on all tablet devices, it is the App Store’s most popular sales rep application. Pepperi’s customer base spans a wide range of industries, from fashion and eyewear to home and giftware.”  

First let me say: Pepperi is great at what it does. Therefore, one should not see this as negative post about Pepperi and what the company does, but merely suggestions or perhaps difficulties working with such a system. However, I am surpriced at the very low number of articles or feedback regarding Pepperi online. Hence I feel this article might guide some thinking about implementing Pepperi to their business.

Time, as many of us so desperately seek seem to vanish into thin air if not handled right. Deadlines, timelines and other factors weighs into one single equation “effectiveness”.

I’ve been working with Pepperi for about one year now. A little background information is that I use it for administrative work in the fashion industry that it’s been praised for. It pinpoints certain very important elements for just that nature of business with seasons, sales reps and other useful information one might want to gather.

Now, I am not going to argue on anything on the sales side, mostly because I am not working on that end. I deal with the backend, extracting data from the system, trying to squeeze out every piece of valuable information about the customers as possible.

The hunt for effectiveness mostly comes from the quality of the data being able to be extracted from Pepperi. It handles sales, orders, stocks as well as current seasons and on the go devices apps for sales agents. All in all; great.

Furthermore, the basic overview of business accounts that can be pin pointed on maps makes very clear and effective for areas where you are about and where you want to be.

Getting back to the effectiveness and quality of data I was struck by the limits in the reports you could extract from the system. The pre designed was just not up to par standard as one could assume from this type of sustem, and they were very protective of it. Now, it is crucial to understand that it is your data you are after. Not Pepperis. In order to get a picture of your customers and build a realistic spreadsheet of sales targets and such, the data extracted must be of utter quality.

However, dealing with the customer support, might get you where you want to go but it may also just leave you thinking “this is not what I asked for at all” or “how come this simple problem is not yet fixed and dealt with”?

Yes, the customer support is absolutely horrendous at time, promising great changes but not being able to deliver. On multiple occasions, tickets being sent in are just being left open after the customer agent think they solved the problem.

I also want to point out that there are several very large and downright annoying bugs in their system. ERP codes and customer ID’s for example turned out to be a hassle to change as they are recorded into two different columns. Meaning if you want to change these after a period of time, they might turn out to be locked out, since Pepperi only let you access one of these columns, but not the one affecting the value. Therefor one is forced to contact customer support and wait for them to manually do it. As you might figure, this takes time.

As a matter of fact. The lack of understanding when describing problems or, the lack of features needed, meant that we had to choose a 3d party in order to make our Business Intelligence system complete. XLR Reporting was able to seamlessly integrate both Pepperi data as well as our bookkeeping and order handling system into one and deliver on what Pepperi should be able to do.

Now, Pepperi was never meant to be a par standard of such a reporting system, but I and many in my position out there could easily do this in Pivoue tables in excel to get similar data. We could only do this if the reports extracted from Pepperi was up to that level. Unfortunately this is not the case.

As of backend interface, I am deeply disappointed in how it’s built. It is mostly java scripted which in many cases can make very annoying issues (like opening a new tab from a link) or resetting the data to 0 when going back one page. Small issues, yes, but never the less so annoying that it stops the effectiveness and quality of work. The recording of orders are there for a hassle for any sales department and a lot of time is being spent of simply doing the same things to many times.

To conclude, I’ve yet to see any real review of Pepperi. This post is to inform of problems one might hit when implanting Pepperi to the company. I believe it is very user friendly for the sales agents as well as potential customers, and it is in the right time of age. However, to get any real information from it that you want to build your data on might be very tricky and turn out to be a headache and you might have to consider getting a 3d party system to make your DATA complete.

The necessary evil with employees and social media

It’s mostly circulating as a funny picture or old conversation log. An employee who bashes the company on twitter, Facebook or any other social media and forgets that he or she has the boss on the friends list.

It’s often comes to the expense of the employee, losing the job and also having a few thousands comments pointing out the severe lack of IQ followed with laughter of others.

If you start thinking about this for another 30 seconds, you can identify the flaw in this entire culture.

First of all, you have dissatisfied employees within your organisation, who clearly is too afraid or thinks it too complicated to point out flaws.

Second of all, is the boss or manager who often fires the employee directly in the comment, followed by some smug comments of “you were never fit for the job anyway”?

Unfortunately, the owner or manager are portrayed as the “hero” by the general public. The figured who showed that unsatisfied worker the true rights, and “the one who vents online will see the swift consequences”.

Above statements are very valid concerns for every organisations. A work culture where one can’t point out facts where the organisations needs improvement or show some sort of dissatisfactions is soon to implode into a very hostile working environment.

The owner or manager who can’t project a friendly and trustworthy manner will also have a hard time connecting with the employees on a deeper a level. Authentic leadership points us towards these issues where self-realisation and awareness as a leader is key to create a welcoming team working environment. Where members of the organisations will thrive and therefore develop the organisation for the better, period.

Of course, extreme cases of venting, bashing and generally putting criticism towards the organisation or firm will need this sort of swift engagement by the top management team. But they should never do it to ridicule the person venting. Not only does it weakens the position of the manager or “stooping to their level”, it does also indirectly show that “pointing out flaws will never be tolerated”.

So next time you see one of these posts from angry or distressed employees, think about the actual problem. What drives the person to make these posts? Could there be anything wrong within the organization? Are your internal communication channels clear and direct? Does the internal filtering of concerns work as intended?

One could see the social network as a huge problem, but you could also twist it towards seeing the opportunities to get a real in-depth view how people see your or other organisations working culture and how it is discussed between friends.

Gather information and encourage people to speak their mind in order to become a leader who can draw and develop strengths from every platform and communication ground.

The fall of an industry

“The Taxi and hotel branch is in great danger”.  These are the headlines when professionals, politicians and opinion making machines raise their voices towards services like Uber and Airbnb. Absurd portrayals, images and desperate statements is not unusual when established actors tries to call for boycott and regulations via debate articles and name signatures.

I want to welcome all parties to the term “the shared economy”. A term that is used to explain the economic climate where individuals share their time or things for a smaller cost. The benefits often outweighs the negatives in this climate. Even if this is a simplified version of the actual theoretical term of the shared economy, but the very basics of these companies is built on the original idea.

Companies that in the core are working towards sustainability and where the branding is “what’s yours is mine –for a small fee”.

Without a doubt, one can say that the economy today is very different from the one 10-15 years ago. But another type of business faced similar challenges as the cab corporations today. The retail trade warned all customers for the new shopping online or “e-commerce”. It was unsecure, untaxed and one could never get the same professional treatment as in a physical store. Today the retail industry another rhetoric and other ways to compete. Thus, the e-commerce had to be dealt via adaption and not by force.

The commercial transportation industry today, faces the same challenges as the retail did then. Services like Uber only exists because there is a demand for just this type of service. The industry needs to rethink and remake their services to adapt to the new economical climate and what their customers wants and needs. Two of a multiple array of reasons is availability and price.

The experience that the cab drivers often have, navigation and local routes, is in every man’s hand. Of course one should not out rule knowledge of your surroundings and other type of experience the drivers might have. Service mindedness and how to deal with unpleasant passengers and other miss happenings is crucial for every driver. These are only gained through working in the business. And the most frequent complaint towards Ubers drivers is that driver drove the wrong way. But, regardless, customers are willing to take this risk.

To adapt to new situation and climates is the utter most crucial part of our survival. The same goes for all businesses. Services like uber and Airbnb will always pop up and be in that segment where Ebay where front of the line.

The commercial driving industry needs to find new solution to this problem that within the decade will outgrow theirs. Regulations and restrictions won’t help because it is not the services business nor the regulations and laws harnessing the problems. It is rather the stale driving industry that are facing new problems that they have troubles identifying. IN short, they need to locate and identify their customers, new and old.

To only point towards differences in security via insurance and driving competence shows that this ignorance could be devastating for all commercial drivers and their business as it is not what the current customer wants

The sector itself needs to reform, bottom and up.

Boss Vs. Leader

Sometimes, just browsing the web finds you the most inspiring things.