If your business is online with its very own website then you most likely have a persona online, although you probably did not think about your online persona when launched your website.  You just wanted to get your business on the web.  Your website talks about your business, possibly you, and has pictures.  If you were to describe your online persona that your website puts out… what is it?

I would wager that the word professional came to your lips.

What about fun, hip, cool, classy, kicking, awesome, expert, wow, or generous?

Can all of those descriptions go with a professional look and feel?

All right I will stop with the questions.  You do not need to have an answer for them now, but what you need to do is think about the answers for them, how you perceive yourself, how others perceive you, and how you want to be perceived.  Doing all this thinking will help you define your persona.

You need a persona to attract, engage, and establish relationships in social media.

After I saw Kiss on stage, I wanted my show to look like the fourth of July. The persona of Rick James was wild and crazy, sex, drugs and rock and roll. – Rick James

Authenticity

Are you being real?

If you have done some reading about social media online then you have read about “being real” and “being authentic” when it comes to engaging with others.  This is something that you cannot be careless about.  Once other members on the social network sites feel you are unauthentic you will lose the potential of reaching large audiences.  People are on social media sites to network and engage with other real people.

To be authentic you need to know thyself.  This means asking your current customers, your competition, and anyone with an opinion to give you the honest truth about how your business presents itself to the world.  You might not like what you hear but it will be incredibly helpful.

While you might think you are one funny person – heck I’m in stitches thinking about you right now – if everyone around you does not think so then there will be a huge disconnect.  This disconnect will result in confusion, complaints, and lost sales.  Spend the time to discover who you are.

Once you have discovered what your perceived persona by the outside world is, you need to decide if you are going to embrace it or change it.  Either way your work is not done.  You need to do a total review on how you communicate with the outside world.  Does what you say and what you show match?

All of your marketing material needs to match up with the voice you are using in whatever social media platform you are using.  You want your new fans/followers to dig deeper and learn more about your business.  You want them to become experts about your products/services and rave about you to their network.  That will not happen if there is a huge disconnect between your social media account and your website.  You will be seen as not being authentic.

Who does this best?  Take a look at Starbucks.  Their website, Facebook fan page, and their tweets all have a persona that matches with their brand image: hip cool and coffee.  What makes it even better is that Starbucks has individual baristas participate in the social media discussions.  Each of them adds their individual flare to the discussion but it does not break from the overall persona of Starbucks.  Instead it enhances it, making the Starbucks social media experience 100% authentic.

Because we’re actors we can pretend and fake it, but I’d rather the intimate investment was authentic. – Keanu Reeves

Combining Personas

What Is this Persona?

You may have decided that your personal persona – the fun and whacky you – is not business appropriate.  How sad.  Why hide yourself from the world?  Is it because you feel it is not professional enough?  Afraid you might offend someone?

I hate to burst your bubble, but even the strict “professional you” is offending someone.  So why hide the real you from your business?

The first rule that you must understand and repeat to yourself everyday: People buy from people.  Repeat the mantra because it is true.  People love to buy from other people and establish a relationship that is mutually beneficial.  In fact the whole economy is based on people buying from other people.  It is the exact same way in social media.  So I ask you again, why hide the real you?

If your business is considered by everyone who has an interaction with it as being professional, I am not saying that you should burn that persona and become super crazy.  No, because that is insane.  There is some part of you that is that professional persona.  Instead, you can combine your professional and fun side.  It will make you even more authentic.

Think I am crazy?  Look up Jeffery Gitomer.  He is an author and number one sales trainer.  He is both professional and fun.  People want to be around him and he attracts a lot of business.  He made the decision long ago to combine his professional and fun loving personas.  It has been a success!

Like Jeffery, you can do it too!

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. – Dale Carnegie

Social media is becoming more than just cats playing with laser pointers, bulldogs skateboarding, or the latest stupid human trick.  Social media is a medium that allows your business to engage in authentic deep conversations with your clients, potential clients, and your community.  It is a great tool that can result in successful business ventures if you are true to yourself first.

Take the time to understand how you want to interact with the outside world.  Determine how you want that world to interact with you.  Be fearless and allow serendipity to be your guide.  You will be amazed about what you learn, who you meet, and powerful business connections you will make.

In order to do that you must be authentic.

The alluring call of the Siren has finally gotten you to succumb.  You are going to market your business into the social media realm.  Here are five guidelines you need to follow to be successful in leveraging social media for your business.

Answer A Few Questions

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong. – Bono

Before you begin blogging, posting, tweeting, and linking you need to answer a few questions first.  The answers you provide will help you establish a focused effort that will result in a better use of resources.  So take your time to really answer them before you jump feet first into social media.  Here are the questions:

• Why should/would anyone listen to you?
• What is your persona?
• What is your voice?
• Where will you engage?
• Who will you want to engage?
• Who will execute your social media plan?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• When do you want to begin?
• How will you measure success?
• How will you listen?

Ten questions that you should have strong answers to before you begin your social media campaign.  All of them are weighed equally in importance.

Is your team asking the right questions?

It is has been my experience that where companies fail is in answering the first, third, and tenth questions sufficiently.  The result has been that these businesses present an unfocused approach that repeatedly misses opportunities to build a strong brand.  So take your time in researching your answers.

Make A Plan

The path to success is to take massive, determined action. – Tony Robbins

You made a business plan for your business, you made a marketing plan to market your business, and you may even have your salespeople use sales plans to beat their quota.  You know that plans keep your company focused and on target.  So why would you not have a plan for your use of social media?

This plan should layout the overall strategy for your social media campaign.  It will be particularly strong if you have successfully answered the questions above.  Primarily knowing what you want to measure and how you define success in social media are key components to your plan.   It will keep you focused and away from wasting time.

Your social media plan should be incorporated with your marketing, sales, and customer service plans.  It should not be a stand-alone entity.  Doing this will allow you to keep a

The Secret Recipe

single voice and representation of your brand not matter where your customers may engage you.

Your social media plan – like other plans for your business – should be a living document that is updated and adjusted to take advantage of opportunities for your business.  It is best to break down your tactical components of your social media plan into 30-60-90 day increments.  It is easier to execute in more manageable bites.

Choose The Right Platform

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. – Abraham Lincoln

It is important that you research which social media platform is right for your business.  Do not get caught up in the initial hype surrounding some of the platforms out there.  Facebook may not be where your customers are if you are a manufacturing B2B that sells ball bearings.  Go where your customers and where influencers of your customers roam.  This means that you might not go on to Twitter or Facebook, but set up a blog or network intensely on LinkedIn.  Business is still location, location, and location.

Test With Patience And Adjust

Distance tests a horse’s strength. Time reveals a person’s character. – Chinese Proverb

You need to measure your actions.

If you are entering into social media for the first time or coming back to it after a failed attempt, remember that patience is a virtue.  Social media is not a quick sale or a fast customer service resolution.  Social media is about being social and building relationships.  In essence social media is about what you and I do everyday at the office, with our customers, and how we make friends.  All of the things we have learned in the real world apply in social media: it takes time to get to know someone.

The great thing about that time is it allows you to test ideas, messaging, and service models while receiving feedback (that can be brutally honest) about your products.  If you enter into this medium with honest intentions you will be rewarded with insights that you would have most likely been overlooked.

Measure Your Effort

People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results – Albert Einstein

When you have established what it is that you want to measure in your social media campaign – measure it.  It could be gaining new followers, subscribers, fans, or customers.  Whatever it may be, the measurement you have selected is the best indicator of your efforts and if they are in alignment with your plan.  This is the same as how your measure your sales versus a quota or the return on a capital investment your business has made.  Otherwise how do you know what you are doing is correct?

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.  – Ghandi

Odysseus had his crew put wax in their ears so they would not row his ship upon the deadly rocks where the Sirens lived.  Only he heard their song.  Your business needs to have the same focus.

When you decide to enter into social media as a marketing tool it can be easy for everyone to want to be involved.  That will tear you business apart and waste valuable resources.  Your effort needs to be focused.

There is no need to rush when it comes to social media.  Learn, observe, research, plan, and then execute a campaign that focuses on building strong relationships.  You will be rewarded.

Business owners, entrepreneurs, individual contractors… lend me your ears.  I come not to bury traditional advertisement, not to honor it.  It was my friend, honorable to how much I paid it, and just to me by providing clients.

If Shakespeare were alive would he write thus about traditional advertisement when compared to social media?  Probably not but it allows me to have some creative fun.

All kidding aside you should lend me a few seconds to understand why you should have your business engaging in social media: it is where your customers are already and are going to if they are not there.  For any business, like yours, to find leads and convert those leads into sales it all comes down to location, location, and location.

Don’t fret, yet.  If your business is not engaging in this new medium you still have time.

Why Now?

There are an infinite amount of posts online that can answer that question probably better than me.  They can give you some insight into why your business should be embracing social media.  Here a few:

• Should You Business Use Social Media Marketing?
• Social Media For Business – Who Is Doing It Well
• 20 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Use Social Media

I am going to ask you why not now?  Is it a fear of time-sink?  Are you afraid of adopting something that leaves the impression that it changes quickly on a whim?  What is it that holds you back?

Customers Need To Be Part Of The Equation

You need to answer those questions honestly to yourself.  I even propose that you write those answers down – step away from them – and then comeback and read them aloud.  You will find the language that you have chosen to answer the above questions will give you clues to the real reason why you have not adopted social media.  Most of all it is out of fear of changing what already is perceived to be working.

Yes, I said perceived.  When was the last time you calculated your margin of return on the advertising dollars you have spent?  Most likely the margin has shrunk over time.  So while it is working, it is not working as well as it used to.  With dollars and budgets tight in any economy, you need to maximize your margin of return as much as possible.

Right there you have a major “WHY”.

Still not convinced?

I can see why.  You probably run a B2B business that has a special niche and most of your clients are not in the twenties or below.

Well I’ve got some bad news for your perception – one of the fastest growing demographics (and happens to be the largest) in social media is 26 and older.[1]^{, [2], [3]} These demographic statistics includes decision makers, influencers, and buyers of your products/services.  Why would you want to ignore them?

More businesses are going on social media platforms to promote their expertise, their products/services, listen to their customers, and monitor their competition.  The social activity that these businesses create online feeds into increased links to their websites, increased exposure to key clients, and increased margins of return for their investment.  They are gaining access, information, and clients.

What To Do

Determine which platform best suites your business model.  Is it Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, Blogging, etc?  You need to investigate which ones you are going to invest your time for your marketing efforts.  Hint:  It most likely will be two or three but not all of them.

Once you have discovered which platform meets your needs, then you need to create a social media plan.  In this plan you want to establish:

• Policies and procedures on how your business will use social media.
• Measurement of specific metrics that have meaning for your business; typically this will be leads and sales.
• One voice that represents your business across the platforms you have chosen.  Consistency is key.
• Clear timeframes for engagement and disengagement.
• Long-term vision with patience.  It will take time to build up your network if you are not a household name.

As with any plan you will monitor and adjust as needed to ensure that you have a successful campaign.

Business Is A Social Enterprise

One thing to keep in mind is that authenticity rules in social media.  This means that you have to be social and engage.  It sounds odd if you are not used to this medium but it is important to making your use of social media a success.  Failure to do so will result in wasted time, energy, and money.  (Yes, while it does not cost you to sign up for accounts on these platforms, someone is manning them and you are paying that someone.)  Engagement is a roundabout with multiple lanes accessing it.  That means traffic will be circling, entering, and exiting from a number of directions.  This is atypical of traditional advertisement and can leave you with a feeling that everything is out of control.  Breathe deep.  It is okay.  You are being social!

Fortune is merry, 
and in this mood will give us anything. – Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Your business and you will find some incredibly wonderful new fans, clients, and opportunities.  All of which you most likely would have spent a lot of capital to obtain or miss completely by using traditional methods.  If you still have questions as to why you should be using social media for your business, contact me; I’d love to demonstrate the benefits to you!

What keeps your business from engaging in social media?  What information do you need to help you make up your mind?

About the author:

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a business coaching and consultancy provider for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. He has fifteen years experience working within the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, natural resources, medical devices, software, technology, business services, and agriculture industries in various levels of leadership across six continents. He has led diverse teams in sales, marketing, planning, and in the Army.  He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed, like social media, to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at www.vongehrconsulting.com or call +1 203 433 8079.  You can follow him on Twitter at @Erroin

The Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, was founded by Erroin A. Martin to provide business coaching, business consulting, and other services to companies both large and small.  The primary goal is to have his clients be passionate about their business and reach the unachievable.

[2] Dispelling The Youth Myth – Web Business

[3] 35 Crucial SEO, Twitter & Social Media Statistics For Business People – SEOptimise

I am honored that I know Shelly Kramer and that she took the time to be a guest writer on the Finding Answers Blog.  Her wit, charm, and above all unworldly eighth sense when it comes to social media are very apparent in her writing.  That leads me back to first rule and cornerstone of publishing online: content is emperor of all things Internet.  Without content, there is not a single reason for any of us to visit anything on the web.

Great content will compel anyone to understand more about you and seek your services.

As a business coach, I have had the pleasure to work with numerous organizations on how to embrace social media and the Internet.  From physicians to bar owners, all of them want to drive foot traffic to their stores using social media.  I tell them that great content will compel anyone to understand more about you and seek your services.  It sounds so easy!

All these advice posts about great content and it is amazing how many of us are so poor at it.

So Many Directions

This lesson is espoused in numerous blogs that have been typed feverishly across the world.  When you read any “how to’s” about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. everyone mentions the importance of great content.   (In fact I know that some of you are rolling your eyes at this post right now saying in you minds or perhaps out loud, “Dude! Where have you been living?!?”)  Yet with all these advice posts out there about great content it is amazing how many of us are so poor at it.

Let’s face it.  You and I have been there, on Twitter, and we have clicked on one of those links.  You know… one of those links that goes with a tweet like “Learn three ways to _________.” So we click.  We are all excited to learn some secret that no one else knows or will make us smarter or will make us sexier, whatever.  As the page loads in our browsers our glee quickly fades into disappointment, for once again we have read a post with horrible content.

I will admit that at times I want to find that person who wrote the bad content and ask for my seconds back.  Demand that they not be allowed to post for a period of time.  Then I remember that I am just as guilty of placing horrible poorly written/thought out items online.  I would have to give time back to numerous souls.  I too would be banned from the Internet.

So how can we compel readers to visit our blogs and share its information across the world?

Write compelling posts and increase readership

The answer is easy enough.  Follow all those other advice blogs about great content.

Instead of applying them like steps in a recipe or what you need to complete when upgrading a software program, use those instructions as tools to analyze some of the blogs and articles you have loved.  Like with the guest post by Ms. Kramer on this blog.   If you look at the topic of her post, her prose, her call to action, and her argument you will see all the key elements of what is needed to write great content for the Internet:

• She speaks with authority – Social media is her bread and butter.  You can tell with her word selection and paragraph structure that Shelly knows her stuff.
• There is passion in her speech – This blog is not written by a timid spirit.  She calling out all men and saying that traditional marketers don’t get it when it comes to social media.  Wake up! It is a woman’s world!
• Shelly speaks in her voice – she does not put on airs or makes an academic objective stand.  You can almost hear the mighty Mississippi in the background as you read it.
• She is open for opinions – Ms. Kramer ends her post with a call for responses.  She wants to know what you think.

We Love What You Wrote!

It all sounds so easy does it not?  It is, when you apply those tools to great content that you already know.  Using them to see what fundamentals are necessary will help you write compelling posts and increase readership of your thoughts, opinions, and tips.  Heck!  You might even get someone to take you up on whatever it is you offer!

How do you write great content?

About the author:

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a coaching and consultancy provider for businesses and medical practices. He has over eleven years experience working within the pharmaceutical industry in various levels of leadership across six continents. He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at www.vongehrconsulting.com or call +1 203 433 8079.  You can follow him on twitter at @Erroin

Marketing and PR have long been fields dominated by women and, as we move into the world of new media, especially all things related to social mediums, it’s no surprise that this is an area where women are amazingly adept. I’ll be the first to admit that, right now, men seem to dominate the field. You can’t toss a stick without hitting guys like Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Jay Baer, Gary Vaynerchuck and other heavy hitters in the world of new media.  My advice to those talented gentlemen: enjoy it while you can, because it won’t be long until you’re overtaken by the Estrogen Team.

I am joking – but not. I just read a brilliant post Why Women Thrive In Social Media written by my good friend and occasional colleague, Owen JJ Stone, a/k/a @ohdoctah on Twitter. Owen is a big presence in the social media realm and is especially well known for his vlogging.  He understands video in a way that not everyone does, and is a sought after consultant when it comes to businesses wanting to integrate video and other tactics into their social media marketing efforts. But the beautiful thing about Owen is that he also understands women – and why they are so good at what they do.  His latest post on women in the social media realm is insightful and right on target.

Women make the majority of the purchasing decisions in most households

Women make the majority of the purchasing decisions in most households and nearly one-half of the workforce is comprised of women. In fact, in a recent poll done by Time magazine, some 40% of women surveyed indicate they are the primary breadwinners in their household. So, when it comes to brands and their never-changing objective of reaching their target audience, it’s a no-brainer that that audience is, in most cases, women. And women instinctively know not only how to connect with other women in effective ways, they also know what moves women and compels them to make buying decisions.

Our male counterparts… have to work infinitely harder… men are not, by nature, givers.

Power Exercised In Social Media

As such, it only makes sense that women are front and center when it comes to marketing and PR. And, in no time, we’ll see them really dominate (if they aren’t already) the world of social mediums. Women have been unloading on one another since the beginning of time. We dish dirt, we ask advice, we share tips and ideas, we offer shoulders upon which to cry and take them just as willingly when needed in return. We are often unflinchingly honest, with ourselves and one another, and share pieces of ourselves that would – and often do – horrify men. We are empathy personified and are conditioned to nurture from literally the earliest stages of toddlerhood on. As such, with the very fibers of our beings, we completely and totally “get” how important it is to listen within the social media world. And to give before we ever expect to get. Women are born givers. As such, we understand that giving is a natural part of the equation. Our male counterparts, no matter how accomplished, have to work infinitely harder to understand that concept, simply because men are not, by nature, givers.

And so, I leave you with this. The world of social mediums, while filled with manly movers, shakers, book writers and pontificators is, ultimately, a world that will be lovingly and most capably conquered by and led by some amazing women. They are out there already, quietly doing their thing. Some members of the Estrogen Team to whom I look for inspiration are @Laura_Lake @adamsconsulting @BuzzEdition @LizStrauss @Nongling @BethHarte @SSmirnov @zenaweist @BridgetAyers @SarahRobinson and @AnnEvanston. Some of them don’t even know me, or barely know me, yet they still inspire – thus, the beauty of Twitter.  And, please know, this is only a drop in the bucket of the many, many female voices singing so beautifully in the social media choir that so consumes me on a daily basis.

Who inspires you?

About The Author

Shelly Kramer is a Co-founder of V3 Integrated Marketing and founder of Kramer & Co, both headquartered in Kansas City, MO, and doing business with clients all over the world. She’s a sought after consultant and speaker, well-known for her “keeping it real” persona. She’s irreverent, irrepressible and possessed of a wicked sense of humor.  In short, when she’s in the room, you know it. And, when it comes to business her clients will be the first to tell you she is, without question, their secret weapon.  You can read her blog here: http://www.v3im.com/blog and find her on Twitter @shellykramer http://www.v3im.com

The internet has proven to be a powerful marketing tool.  You have social media, blogs, Google Ads, Youtube videos, and email newsletters.  There are so many methods to communicate and engage your target audience that when you make a blunder it is seen exponentially.

Here is an example that we received from a company we buy from:

Oops!  Looks like either the email newsletter program burped out the wrong information or the customer relationship management software (CRM) did not copy out correctly.

We find this humorous but the reality is that it sows a tiny seed of doubt.  The next time we see a mistake like this it begins to build.  We have a bad experience with their beer and it gets even worse.  Of course a mistake like this gets shared on the web.

Code of the Internet

What can you do?

Three simple steps:

1. Review review review and review your piece again.  Make sure it looks clean and has all the important information communicated without grammatical errors.

1. Read your piece out loud.  You will pick up on sentences that do not sound correct, are too wordy, and/or fail to communicate your ideas.

1. Enlist a family member, coworker, or friend to read your work before you post it.

It takes just a little bit of effort and it is worth it in the end.  Once it is out there.  It is on the web for good.  We should know.  There is still a post about us losing our love handles from 1997 still online.

Listen to our podcasts

Somewhere it is written that it takes 21 days or more to change a habit or establish a new one.  (Although I am sure under the right pressures those days can be shortened.)  If it is really the case that it takes 21 days then you should use that number when establishing how many times you are going to speak with your customers/clients.

Meeting With A Client

First, you cannot bug your clients/customers for twenty-one straight days.  That is simply insane and they are in their correct judgement to bar you from the door.  If you have an established call cycle that you are working with to obtain clients then you can spread those twenty-one days over a number of weeks or months.

Now you are probably saying to yourself that spreading out twenty-one customer contacts over the calendar can really make your sales cycle longer than it should be.  Yes, that is very true, it would definitely do that.  Unless you are sitting on a huge pile of cash, that probably is not going to be a good thing for you to waste that time.  So instead divide that number by three and you will come up with seven different times you are going to contact your client/customer.

Okay, but didn’t you just say that it takes 21 days to change a habit, you ask.  I did and the number seven is the number of times you are going to contact your customer through three different means.  Those different methods are:

• Face to face meetings

• Telephone conversations

• Webinars

• YouTube Videos

• Podcasts

• Mailers

• Newsletters

• Blogs

• Tweets

• Emails

• Brochures

• And anything else that puts you in front of the customer.

The key is to keep your message consistent and with value to your client/customer.  Remember they have reached out to you and/or have done business with you in the past.  Therefore they are initially receptive to the information you have to offer.  If you have done your intelligence of the market and customer correctly then it should be easy for you to offer value.

Learn more from our podcasts.

General Motors (the car company you happen to own a piece of) has announced a new “60 Day Customer Satisfaction or Money Back Guarantee.”  When you have to start giving your product away do you really have a business?

Gimmicks and tricks that are used for short term sales blitzes are not sustainable in the long term.  They will, if executed properly, boost your sales revenue but only for a brief moment.  Those types of sales tactics do not enhance your brand and product reputation.  If done repeatedly it will tire your costumer out.

It has been said that GM is looking to use this sales/marketing tactic to bring shoppers back into the dealerships and as an answer to quality perceptions.  Rarely do satisfaction guarantees provide a powerful change in a customer’s perception of quality.  Instead it tends to reinforce that quality is poor because the company has to “give it away.”

What could GM or your company do instead to help boost customer confidence in quality?

• In General Motors case they could give one of the most generous warranties.  If their quality is so strong in their cars then a ten year all inclusive warranty would back that up.  A car consumer in these tight times would feel new confidence in a GM car that they would be purchasing.

• Depending on what you may sell you can also offer a “No Hassle” returns at anytime.  Nordstroms, the department store from Seattle, is infamous for this.  There is an urban legend that a Nordstroms store took back four tires even though they do not sell them.  The point behind this tactic is that the customer has the perception of fairness from the store and that translates to quality.  The quality of the product is so good that if it fails ten years later, the store will take it back.

• Promote independent testing of your quality through competitions, third parties, and above all customer testimonials.  There is nothing more powerful to a customer than a seal of approval by other parties.  General Motors would benefit from going beyond NASCAR, car magazines, and television commercials to attest to its quality.  It needs an independent movement within social media as an example to tout GM quality.

• Price your product to the value of the quality in the product.  What is the difference in a pair of jeans from Wal-Mart compared to jeans from The Gap?  Both are made of denim and both have two legs.  The difference is in price and the consumer expects that the increased price they pay at The Gap results in better style and quality than the cheaper jeans they can get at Wal-Mart.  The same goes for the products you sell and for cars.  The way markets communicate quality and value is through price.

In its attempt to re-launch itself expect to see General Motors try a number of different gimmicks.  Each one designed to demonstrate that they have changed.  What you will witness is GM trying to throw multiple slogans, tactics, etc. to see what sticks.  In the end it will not work and will not fix GM’s reputation for quality.