Marketing Roadmaps

Archives for July 2008

Blogging, social media & customer service: Recommendations for Next Steps (Part 8)

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The only way to “get” social media is to get into it. Until you do, it’s really just so many words on a page or pixels on a screen. Here are some recommendations for getting started.

For Individuals

  • Join LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
  • Start reading blogs about both your personal and professional interests
  • Lurk for a while and then start leaving a comment every so often, just to see how it feels
  • Consider starting a blog about something you are personally interested in, or if you find a relevant group blog, ask if they need additional contributors

For Business

  • Start monitoring for key issues and your company name
  • Assess tone of comments so you know what problems to solve
  • Get executive commitment
  • Start responding to comments, positive and negative
  • Use results to decide whether to publish a blog or community site

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This post wraps up the series on social media and customer service. Later this week, I’ll be back with more blogger relations SNAFUs and time permitting, a BlogHer preview.

Blogging, social media & customer service (Part 7)

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Part 7: Tweet, tweet: Microblogging considerations

Microblogs like Twitter are getting a lot of attention these days, in no small part because some big companies are using them to talk to their customers. If you are considering it, here are the key considerations:

  • Are your customers there?
  • Do you have the bandwidth to staff this rapid fire communications channel?
  • Can your reps take action to solve any issues? Sympathy is nice but people will want solutions.
  • Popular microblogging services frequently have availability issues. What alternative channel will you provide the users and how will they learn about it?

 

Blogging, social media & customer service (Part 6)

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Part 6: Communities: Should you start one?

If your customers are already congregating online, in Twitter or Facebook or a private community, the best thing to do is to start participating there, following whatever guidelines the members set out for your participation. It may be your product, but it is their place. They aren’t going to want product pitches; they will want participation and they’ll likely expect help.

Before you build your own community, which can be an expensive proposition, make sure that your customers really want one. If there isn’t one already, the reason may be they don’t want a special place to speak with your company and each other online. Unless you are absolutely certain that your products engender that kind of loyalty, start small. Perhaps with a forum or suggestion box.

Starbucks and Dell have taken the suggestion box to the extreme, building sites on which customers can make public suggestions and vote on the ones they like best, but you don’t have to have something that complex. Start with a simple email alias for suggestions, and be sure someone responds quickly. What works about the Starbucks and Dell sites isn’t the voting. It’s that the companies are responding and taking action on suggestions.

Regardless of how much or how little technology you use, the key ingredient in customer care will always be the people interacting with your customers. Technology, whether the telephone, email or Twitter, is just the tool we use to do it. And the keys to success are the same as any other business endeavor: honesty, patience, consistency and commitment.

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And that brings us to the end of the main article. There are two more short posts to follow on Sunday: microblogging considerations (Part 7) and some recommendations for next steps for both individuals and customer service groups just getting started with social media (Part 8).

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Blogging, social media & customer service (Part 5)

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Part 5: Comments. They’re what keep you up at night.

Without a doubt, the issue at the forefront of most customer care professionals is how to respond to comments, whether on your own company’s blog or elsewhere. You are really worried about the negative ones. This is not only a real concern but also a realistic one.

Some folks out there are crazy and there’s nothing to be gained by engaging with them. The good news is, the Internet is a fairly self-correcting environment. If someone is talking trash about your products without cause, the community tends to self-police.

Some, hopefully many, comments will be positive. More importantly, the conversation will happen with or without you. The only thing I can guarantee is that if you make no effort, nothing will change. But if you do, your customers will notice.

When people say positive things online about your company and products, thank them. When they criticize or have a problem, respond. Solve the problem if you can. If you can’t, develop the mechanisms in your firm so you can escalate the issue. If there is no solution, explain, clearly and honestly. The customer may not be happy, but the rational ones will appreciate the response.

Depending on the situation this conversation could happen publicly on a blog or microblog like Twitter or privately in email. Choose the response that fits the situation and your company culture. What matters is that your customer spoke online and you heard him.

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Update: Netflix recently demonstrated that it is paying attention to its customers when it rescinded a decision to remove a popular feature after customers protested online. Hat tip to Sandra. 

Next up: Part 6, Should you build a community?

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