"People are afraid that it's going to take a life of its own, accelerate brand identity," said the Los Angeles-based business consultant and CEO of a startup virtual gaming [image-nocss] website called Star.Me. "They worry that it will actually work."
He reassured attendees that the devastating, negative reactions that get press are rare, but unfortunately, if a lot of people decide to talk negatively about a company, most likely, there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Frank suggested actively addressing negative response is part of the reality of social networking and that businesses can learn to do so in lighthearted and "in the moment" ways. Doing so can address misinformation and turn anger and frustration into affinity.
On the positive side, he said social media can also engage followers and ultimately lead to tangible marketing efforts that actively involve customers. These efforts can turn into meaningful promotions that lead to significant response rates.
Community building was also a theme for James Maxey, vice president of retail systems for San Antonio, Texas-based Valero and chairman of this year's NACStech conference. "Network!" he said to the audience. "You don't have to work in a silo."
In addition to themes of community building, NACStech workshops prior to the opening general session included topics ranging from protecting pumps from credit-card skimmers to fueling inside sales from the forecourt. On the topic of building sales at the pump island, speakers from Additech Inc., Houston, and Vendgogh LLC, Cary, N.C., spoke of vending options tied to the pump that can add new profit centers.
Tim Stickney, vice president of Vendgogh, told a workshop audience of about 75 that vending machines at fuel islands can tie into pump-display messages, offering the option to customers who may not want to venture into the store. He told attendees that they are currently integrated to several point-of-sale (POS) vendors and are working with others to gain certification.
For other attendees, data security and compliance with Payment Card Industry or PCI standards remains a critical topic. In a session entitled, "Data Security: New Technologies," panelists went over emerging technologies that could affect retailers trying to comply with the Visa-backed mandates.
"Dynamic authentication" was one of the newest technologies regarding data security, according to Terry Mahoney, a partner with W. Capra Consulting Group, Chicago. Mahoney, along with Wesley Buress, U.S. business support coordinator for ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing, Fairfax, Va., spoke of the emerging strategy designed to protect sensitive credit- and debit-card information as one that involves "perishable" security codes. The process would use personal identification numbers (PINs) that change with each transaction.
The new security measure would reduce "card not present" types of fraud, but has some drawbacks, Mahoney said. One of those drawbacks is that the card needed to initiate the transaction is thicker than regular credit cards and may not slide easily through current card readers.
Mahoney and Buress spoke of other technologies that add levels of security for credit and debit transactions, including "point to point," "chip and pin" and "tokenization." All three involve some form of code or process to protect data as it flows from the store to the processor and back to the store.
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