How-To: Setup Free Voicemail on your Canadian Carrier Smartphone

For some time now, I’ve been meaning to explore options for free voicemail – especially in the Canadian context where customers may be charged $7.00 to $15.00 per month for various voicemail or call management options. Since my own contract with my carrier was coming to an end, I did some serious research and evaluated various options for getting “free” voicemail.

The caveat about “free” voicemail is that some of us might already have a good voice and data plan that we want to utilize for a voicemail system without having to pay anything extra for it. It just makes common sense – voicemail shouldn’t be treated as a paid add-on – in the current competitive market landscape, it doesn’t constitute a value-added service.

During my research, I came across two options that would fit the bill:

1. FreePhoneLine.ca which offers a free Canadian phone number and other complementary services such as voicemail and long distance.
2. Youmail.com which offers visual voicemail applications for various mobile platforms and uses it’s hosted communication platform for storage and delivery of voicemail.

I signed up for and tested both of these services and decided to adopt the latter due to the following reasons:

i) Youmail allows account administration through a website and a mobile interface (convenient);

ii) It provides a variety of options to configure alerts and notifications for voicemails and missed calls (SMS/Email/Push);

iii) It provides the option to deliver call receipts to people who leave you a message (could be a useful feature for some use-cases);

iv) I like the crowd-sourced community model being used for collaborating on new applications and sharing tips as well as voicemail greetings ; and

vi) I wasn’t bothered by Youmail’s sales team unlike FreeLine.ca who kept trying to upsell other products and services.


Hence, this How-To tutorial will discuss setting up visual voicemail through Youmail. If you’re interested in exploring what you can do with the alternative FreePhoneLine.ca solution, there’s a good blog post tutorial available here.



What You Will Need:


1.  A reasonably good data plan for the following purposes:


         a) to receive push notifications for the visual voicemail application (you can configure the type of notifications you wish to receive).

          b) to retrieve voicemails as electronic sound files (mp3) through the visual voicemail application or through your online account.

          c) to setup or modify your voicemail administrative options such as greetings.
              This can be done through the visual voicemail application or through your online account.

2.  A voice plan that will allow you to access one or potentially two phone numbers that may be long-distance for you (within Canada). One of the numbers is needed to forward to your calls to the voicemail system, while the other is required to retrieve the voicemail and setup your administrative options (greetings etc.). With respect to the latter, as mentioned in points 1b & 1c above, you can retrieve voicemail and setup your voicemail options through the app on your phone or through your online account, and in this case, you will not need to worry about the second long-distance number to retrieve voicemail.

Note: If you have a long-distance plan or an unlimited calling to/from specific phone numbers through plans such as the Rogers My5 / My10, you should include these number(s) in that list.

3.  Access to Call Forwarding feature through your carrier. To my knowledge, this is already included in many voice plans.


Procedure:



1.  Sign-up for a Youmail Account:

You can sign-up for an account through the Youmail website, or alternatively, you can download the Youmail app
(see links in step 6 below) on your phone and use it to register for an account.

2.  Verify your Phone Number and Youmail Account:

• The verification workflow involves providing your phone number and receiving an activation code via a text message on your mobile device. This activation code needs to be entered on the website to proceed with the sign-up process. In case you don’t receive the activation code (happened in my case), you can use the dial-in number provided on the website to confirm your phone number. This will allow you to proceed with the sign-up process.

• At the end of the sign-up process, you will receive a PIN that needs to be used to authenticate your login to the website and use the mobile app. This PIN can be changed later through the website or the mobile app.

3.  Skip the Call Forwarding Step for Now:


Once your account is setup, you may be asked to configure call forwarding on your mobile phone. I found the instructions provided by Youmail for this purpose to be inaccurate or dated. This is why I would advise that you skip this step for now. We’ll come back to this later (see step 5) .



4.  Login to Your Youmail Account & Configure Options:


Use your phone number and PIN to login to your account. Browse the Settings tab to configure your account and mailbox options. The left hand menu consists of several sections that you can explore for various options. Under the My Information section, you can setup personal information details, change your PIN and setup a username for the community forum. Additionally, you should also take a look at the options in the My Alerts section to setup how you want SMS, Email and Push Notifications to be delivered.




5.  Enable Call Forwarding:


Now we’re ready to configure call forwarding. In the My Phones section under the Settings tab, you will find two access numbers. 

As noted earlier, these numbers may be long-distance for you. Assuming you’re okay with this, you will need to follow instructions from your carrier to forward calls to the Forwarding Access Number provided by Youmail.


In my case, the forwarding instructions provided by Youmail were inaccurate or dated. In fact, I received an email from Youmail with different yet still incorrect instructions. After some online digging (thanks Google!), I tested various suggestions and figured out the correct key sequence for call forwarding on the Rogers network.


You will need to enter the key sequence on your phone dialpad and press the Call button. Don’t miss the asterisks and hashes. While I’m listing various options here, in my case, I ended up using the BUSY/NO ANSWER Transfer option listed below.

• To activate NO ANSWER Transfer:

* 6 1 * Youmail-forwarding-access-number # CALL

• To cancel NO ANSWER Transfer:

# 6 1 # CALL

• To activate BUSY Transfer:

* 6 7 * Youmail-forwarding-access-number # CALL

• To cancel BUSY Transfer:

# 6 7 # CALL

• To activate BUSY/NO ANSWER Transfer:

* 0 0 4 * Youmail-forwarding-access-number # CALL

• To cancel BUSY/NO ANSWER Transfer:

# # 0 0 4 # CALL

Important Note: It is worth re-iterating that the call forwarding instructions provided above were tested on the Rogers network. You may need to follow different instructions specific to your carrier. Additionally, if you currently subscribe to a voicemail service from your carrier, you might need to disable it to configure call forwarding as described above.

6.  Install the Youmail Mobile Application:


Download and install the Youmail mobile application for your smartphone. Links are provided here for your convenience:

• Youmail Android App on Google Play
• Youmail iPhone App on the App Store
• Youmail on the Blackberry App World

Once the application is installed, you can use your phone number and PIN to login to the app. Once logged in, use the settings menu on your phone to explore the configuration options (pretty much the same options are available through the website interface).

7.  Test Your Basic Voicemail Setup:


We’re done with the basic setup and it’s time for a test. Call your number from a different phone and let it ring until it goes to voicemail (hopefully). Depending on how you’ve setup your push notifications and/or email alerts and/or SMS alerts, you should receive an indication or message on your phone for new voicemails on your Youmail voicemail box.




You may also want to test the system in other ways to make sure all missed calls go to your new voicemail - e.g. call your phone and ignore the call by pressing the end key or call your phone while it is turned off or in airplane mode.




Through the push notification, you will be directed to the Youmail App interface where you can browse and retrieve messages in your voicemail and also view any missed calls.

8.  Setup a Custom Voicemail Greeting:


With a working setup, you can now play around with various options. You probably want to customize or record your own voicemail greeting – this can be done by logging into your Youmail account and browsing to My Youmail => Greetings. You can select from various standard greetings or even peruse some funny ones uploaded by the Youmail community.


That’s it for now… 


I hope this How-To tutorial will be of some use.
Do you have any other tips or alternative suggestions for free voicemail setup?
If you try the setup in this How-To tutorial, let me know what you think in the comments section below.
You can also fire me a tweet with your feedback on this article.

MBA Course on Enterprise Social Media Strategy

This summer, I’m going to be teaching an MBA seminar course titled: “Enterprise Social Media Strategy” - Link to Course Outline (PDF).

As a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, I’m delighted to say that this course uniquely positions us among the very few business schools in Canada that have a holistic course offering in social media management. I’m excited about offering this course at the graduate level and am looking forward to discussions with students and guest speakers about the various opportunities and challenges of social computing in business contexts.

While contemplating the course curriculum, I decided to structure the themes of discussion around four primary use-cases for enterprise social media – which include:

i) fostering dialog;

ii) promoting advocacy;

iii) facilitating support; and 

iv) encouraging innovation

During the course, I’m not only expecting to be able to draw upon my own experiences from various consulting engagements and research projects, but also to learn from students’ experiences in their own work contexts. Consequently, I’m hoping that these discussions can help the student audience cut through the hype and deliberate the key elements that are required in developing a practical social media strategy for customer-facing, external collaboration, and internal business contexts.

At a broad level, I’ve attempted to plan each course module within a framework that aims to advance the students’ understanding of:

i) goals and strategies for the use of social media in organizations, especially with respect to the value drivers for enterprise social media (encourage sharing, capture knowledge, enable action, empower people).

ii) maintenance and control of inventory of social media assets

iii) integration of social media programs for information sharing and decision-making processes in various business functions (e.g. marketing, supply chain, finance).

iv) coordination of employee tasks and customer experiences across a variety of social media channels 

v) measurement and analysis of key performance indicators relevant to specific social media use cases

As a strong proponent of constructivist teaching methods, I’ve planned most course activities to be interactive and student-centered. Toward this, the performance assessment criteria for students includes a component that expects and encourages reflective microblogging (using Twitter) on course discussion topics. Additionally, students will also draft and publish individual as well as co-authored blog posts on social media tools and business issues related to the implementation and institutionalization of social media in organizations. In the spirit of being social, all deliverables will be published on the public domain and will be open to comments by students as well as other website visitors.

This being an MBA course, the case method will be utilized for content delivery and class discussions drawing upon case studies from various industry sectors. Additionally, there won't be a prescribed textbook for the course which is befitting a subject area that is continually evolving. As a starting point, I’ve provided a list of academic and practitioner articles in the course outline. Students can read these to familiarize themselves with various themes and topics that the course will cover. I plan on providing readings on a week-by-week basis with the aim of keeping current with relevant issues surrounding the use of social media for business value.

To conclude, I’m offering this course because of my personal conviction of the important role that social media has to play in organizations of all sizes. While many business schools have started to offer some courses in social media to their students, a recent op-ed in Forbes suggests that many top schools are lagging behind. I’m glad to have the opportunity to offer this course at the Telfer School of Management and am pleased to say that our school – if not a pioneer in this area, it is certainly on its way to be a front-runner for advancing educational offerings in social media management.

Please feel free to share your comments about this course or if you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears. Please let me know in the comments section below, or fire me a tweet with your thoughts or feedback.

Facebook Timeline for Brands: Overview & Five Suggestions

As the March 30^th deadline approaches for businesses to update their Facebook brand pages to the new Facebook Timeline, marketers are busy trying to figure out how to best utilize the new layout of their profile pages to advance their social media marketing campaigns. I’ve already helped two organizations in the conceptual redesign of their profile pages and I thought I’d write a blog post to list some of the take-aways from our brainstorming sessions. Hopefully these suggestions can alleviate some of the pain points for businesses that are distressed over this transition.

1. The Cover Photo:

The Timeline based Facebook profile features a landscape oriented cover photo (suggested size is 851 x 315 pixels). For businesses, the cover photo provides an opportunity to express the tone and mood of their brand and their timeline profile page. While businesses can customize the cover photo to their liking, Facebook has prohibited specific promotional tactics such as calls to action for their customers (e.g. you can't ask followers to "like" or to click on certain tabs).

Brand managers should use the cover photo as a dynamic space to set first impressions for their products and services, and facilitate the right tone for an opening conversation with their future customer.

Example: I really like how Nissan has incorporated a really simple but powerful branding message “Our Most Innovative Year”. It gets people wanting to come back for the "reveal".

2. Milestones on the Timeline:

Since the Facebook Timeline changes the default profile page from a list of the most recent updates to a complete summary of an organization’s growth or its brand’s evolution, businesses should include events and achievements that symbolize various chapters in their development. This is especially important for what Facebook terms “Legacy Brands”, i.e. those brands that have decades of historical data that can be featured on the timeline.

In formulating the motif for a timeline, businesses should attempt to engage users through interactive rich media. The timeline should feature more than just status updates, and include photos, videos and location information where relevant.

If done right, the timeline should improve the stickiness for the profile page by allowing current and potential followers to scroll easily through the high points of a business – eventually creating more brand affinity.

Example: Check out Subway’s Timeline starting in the 1960s with the first use of the name ‘Subway’. 

3. Custom Tabs

Facebook’s older interface for business pages featured default landing pages that were invariably used for marketing campaigns and sales promotions. As a major change for many brands, the new Facebook Timeline will no longer allow directing visitors to custom landing tabs.

That being said, businesses can now select which of their tabs (icons) are displayed under the cover photo. These tabs provide the opportunity for businesses to feature the strongest aspects of their Facebook presence – whether it is stories or pictures from their customers, other content pages, or business-specific apps.

Brand managers should customize this space rather than accepting the default order of the tabs/icons along with the default fill images for these tabs. Positioning the tabs and using custom images should be considered to improve the look and feel of the timeline.

Example: Custom app images such as those created by Fanta offer a rich visual interface for the timeline.

4. Pinned Posts

To improve the visibility of selected content, brand page administrators can “pin” a post to the top of their Timeline. Pinned posts can remain at the top of a timeline for up to seven days. They can offer a useful means to broadcast critical information to followers as well as a mechanism to direct fans to contests and other promotions.

Example: Check out Starbucks’ pinned post publicizing its “Global Month of Service”.

5. Highlighted Posts

In addition to pinned posts described above, brands also have the opportunity to highlight important posts from their timeline. Clicking the star at the top right side of the post will increase the size of the post and make it span the width of the timeline, rather than just one column. This will garner more attention and make it very hard for followers to miss. Along with pinned posts, this feature allows brands to position their marketing and social campaigns front & center... literally :-)

Example: Oxfam USA uses a highlighted timeline post featuring a video that introduces the charity to its Facebook page visitors:

Hopefully this quick introduction to the Facebook Timeline for businesses will help you with your own transition to the new profile layout. While change is always painful, it is also inevitable, and there are benefits to be gained through new features and functions that weren’t available earlier. Some businesses have already started reporting improvements in their brand page engagement.

Have you already made the change-over? What are your thoughts? Please let me know in the comments section below, or fire me a tweet with your feedback on this article.

GOR'2012 Poster Presentation

I'm going to be presenting a poster at the General Online Research (GOR'2012) conference in Mannheim, Germany.

The poster is titled “Thinking, Planning & Operationalizing Empirical Mixed Methods Research Design” and it draws upon my Ph.D. dissertation research on member participation in virtual communities.

The rationale for communicating the methodological aspects of my dissertation is primarily to explicate the practice of mixed methods research design and to highlight the various stages comprising an empirical research project. Toward this, the poster content is delineated through four junctures of a mixed methods project – designated as the four Ps: Purpose, Plan, Process & Product.

Since the poster is based on a real-world research project, it provides examples of decisions, options, tools and techniques that were used through the various stages of my research. I’m hoping that the poster will provide some functional suggestions to those who are interested in mixed methods research. As a doctoral student who was just getting started with mixed methods research, I often found myself perplexed about issues of coming up with compelling research design, operational data collection mechanisms, credible & effective analysis techniques, and logical integration between qualitative & quantitative methods. In all likelihood, there may be other researchers with similar questions and I’m hoping that the poster will provide useful insights and perhaps some fodder for aspiring mixed methods researchers.

• The official abstract of the poster is available here: http://bit.ly/yAyC5K
• The poster can be found here: http://bit.ly/wocZcN (PDF – 2.5 MB)

If you saw the poster at the conference or here, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts or getting some feedback. Feel free to comment below or email me or connect with me on twitter.