Qwest launches 'social media' area - it fails

Yawn.

Full disclosure: my company pitched social media efforts to Qwest in tandem with a search guru a couple months ago, but they already had a plan in place and politely declined our services. No big deal.

And kudos to the company for recognizing that social media must play a big role in any marketing/customer service efforts when you’re a target as big as Qwest is.

But I’m just going to be honest and say it:

Wow, their first foray into the space is dismal and clueless.

My first instinct was to tear apart the site piece by piece, but let’s make it an constructive object lesson.

If I had my way, I’d do a complete overhaul — and before I’d re-imagine the site itself, I’d bring my team in to conduct a series of training sessions with Qwest leadership around the benefits and pitfalls of social media strategies. I’d work with Qwest to sort out just who they’re trying to reach in these efforts, and I’d introduce them to some models that work.

But, all I can do here is provide a short list of what’s wrong with the site, and what I’d recommend to at least start to improve it.

1. The URL and name of the page use industry jargon: “Social Media Portal.”
Bad idea. First, the words have no intrinsic meaning to a regular consumer. Second, it’s BORING. If you’re trying to reach the kind of web-savvy Millennials, Gen-Xers, and early adopting boomers who might use a social media-friendly area, you need to capture their imaginations.

Listen: label your page with something descriptive by not too literal. Words like “community” and “response” or even “forum” would be a start. By why not call it something more unique, like, I dunno, “Qwest Party Line” or “The Phone Booth” or “Why Qwest Doesn't Suck"?

2. The page itself is brutally ugly.
And it’s poorly designed from a user experience standpoint. The colors are bland, there are no photos or other images, and there’s nothing dynamic about landing there.

Why not have an actual video on the page? How about a photo of a “featured” team member that links to the rest of the bios? That Karen woman’s pretty cute, and a welcoming face of the brand.

You have a link to Twitter, but where’s your live Twitter stream? Put that on there, and your page content is updated moment-by-moment. Site visitors will be able to see that you're using Twitter to solve problems and communicate with customers.

And, come on—the colors and the staid layout are really, really bad. Your corporate home page is more dynamic than this microsite, where the opposite should be true. If you go deeper into this website, it just gets worse. Do you really think consumers are going to read your endlessly scrolling “Social Media 101” section?

I need to back up and ask who this site is actually for. Consumers? They’ll hate it. Vendors? Qwest staff? Seriously, the more time I spend on the site, the less I understand its function. Who is the intended audience? Start with that, and work from there.

You should think of your “social media portal” as an incubator for new ideas—it’s the place where you try out new branding messages and images, where you take risks you wouldn’t take with your larger brand presence, where you ask for feedback. You need prove to those who use social media that you’re interested in interaction.

Which takes me to...

3. Where’s the social content? Where’s the interaction?
Calling a page “social media” does not make it so. A link to your Twitter page + an email address + a link to a video channel + bios is nothing more than a “contact us” page. There’s nothing conversational or interactive about this area.

I’m not saying you should go as far as Skittles did, but you could certainly learn from them. I don’t see anything on this site that would make me want to visit it for the first time, or return to it ever again.

In addition to the Twitter stream and a featured video, I’d like to see a customer service forum that the team monitors. I’d like to see user-generated stories and reviews about Qwest products and services. Where are the links to Facebook and LinkedIn?

If you were really ready to dive in, and take some risks that will pay off in the long run, I’d create a “Rant at a Qwest Service Rep” section, where people can let loose when they’re upset (expletives filtered and deleted, of course), and feel like they’re being listened to. A place where Qwest falls on its sword when appropriate, and fixes the problem, asking for forgiveness along the way. That way, Qwest customers would feel like they have a responsive feedback funnel, and wouldn’t be as likely to complain elsewhere. And why not feature angry external blog posts that had happy endings?

Oh—I just visited your video channel, which is external, and it’s damned boring, too. Put some branding in there, at least. Jeez.

4. Do something with your team.
The team page is a start, at least, though the forced jocularity is a little grating. And the videos are a nice touch.

But I’d like to see blog posts from team members about problems they’ve solved with customers, about stuff they’re thinking about, with links to websites and videos that inspire them, about how they use Qwest services. I’d like to see them be responsive to customer questions, rather than be assured that they are.

Each one should have his/her own Twitter account, as well. Let’s create some brand affiliation through an affinity with team members.

I could go on and on, but I won’t (not for free, at least).

Here’s my prediction:
Qwest’s “Social Media Portal” will fail to build traction for the brand—there will be little to no traffic, there will be no interaction, there will be no buzz. Interest will decay, and, sometime soon, maybe in a couple of months, maybe in six months, execs at the company will say something like, “We tried social media and it doesn’t work.”

There's no such thing as "trying" social media. Creating a portal only works if you're out there doing stuff that people are responding to and showcasing it back home. Your portal needs to be dynamic and interactive, fun yet professional. This blocky, boring static site is none of those things.

What happened?