YOUR Social Media Era Customer Service?

Customer service in the social media era: Complain publicly or get nothing..

It is remarkable how many stories about companies behaving badly these days begin with a wronged customer trying to solve the situation directly with the company and only after the company refuses to make things right, airing their grievances on social media, wherein the story goes viral and the company immediately apologizes and fixes things.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Customer Service Strategy?

I was reminded of this simple fact recently in my own attempts to have a company address a major series of errors it made regarding my account, to no avail.

More than a year of emails, phone calls and even good old-fashioned letters got me absolutely nowhere. Then I learned from a colleague that she too had had the same problem but had bypassed all my hardship by simply telling the company that it had 48 hours to resolve things or she would be airing all of her grievances on social media.

Within hours the company had not only made everything right for her but had given her major concessions in return for her troubles. She was even given the direct phone number of a senior executive and told to call direct in future with any problems. The company’s only request was to beg her not to talk publicly on social media about the errors it had made. What does this tell us about customer service in the social media era?

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Empathy Technology?

As someone who grew up in the pre-social media era, I learned that in conflicts with companies, as in Vegas, the house usually wins.

Even in cases rising to criminal fraud or clear civil violations, companies can usually escape fairly scot-free or keep the case in court for years until the customer simply gives up. Arguing with the manager or escalating to corporate headquarters could on occasion win a few concessions, but only if the company thought the customer had a mediagenic story that might yield negative press.

In the social media era all of that has been upended. An aggrieved customer can now reach a quarter of the population of the planet with a single post, transforming what would formerly have been a minor nuisance into a major public relations catastrophe that could damage its stock price and even lead to forced executive resignations.

Related Article: A Customer Experience Solution For YOUR Brand?

The bidirectional nature of social media means that in contrast to the broadcast monologues of traditional media, a viral post on social can turn into a global dialog with others across the world chiming in with their own stories and rapidly organizing protests and boycotts against the offending company.

In the past a company could rest confident that even the most viral of negative press would rapidly fizzle out as the news agenda grew bored and moved on to other topics. Social media has no such inorganic pressures, meaning the story can continue to snowball and repeatedly reenter the news cycle until the company takes action.

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This means that a single negative story can, in the space of a few hours, yield millions of similar stories and leap to the headlines of traditional media and in turn to the attention of lawmakers.

Companies have reacted to this by elevating social media monitoring into a central component of their customer relations strategies. Comcast famously was an early company to make social media a first-class customer contact channel, rapidly responding to complaints and taking action to resolve them, such as escalating to local offices.

Speaking with colleagues and neighbors, I was amazed just how many situations each had experienced with companies large and small where complaining to a manager or writing an email yielded nothing, but a brief tweet generated an immediate apology and correction of the problem.

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The end result is that companies have trained an entire generation of society that if you want a company to apologize, just threaten to blackmail it on social media and most likely you’ll get your way.

Attempt to resolve things amicably offline and you’re likely to be either ignored or receive far less compensation. Of course, this is no different than the past, in which companies based their responses on how much media attention they thought a disgruntled customer could garner.

However, in the past the news media acted as gatekeeper and largely covered only the most egregious violations of trust. In contrast, the social era’s lack of gatekeeper means that anyone anywhere, no matter how small their grievance, can wreak public relations devastation, forcing companies to forcefully respond to even the most minor of concerns.

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In the end, perhaps if companies offered those who reached out the old-fashioned way the same treatment as those who publicly blackmail them on social media, more people would choose to just resolve things the simple and quiet way.

Instead, by teaching us that public blackmail is the only way to get them to respond, companies are encouraging the very behavior they hope to discourage.

Guest Authored By Kalev Leetaru. Kalev is based in Washington, DC, he founded his first internet startup the year after the Mosaic web browser debuted, while still in eighth grade, he's spent the last 20 years working to re-imagine how we use data to understand the world around us at scales and in ways never before. Follow Kalev on Twitter.

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"In the end, perhaps if companies offered those who reached out the old-fashioned way the same treatment as those who publicly blackmail them on social media, more people would choose to just resolve things the simple and quiet way.

Instead, by teaching us that public blackmail is the only way to get them to respond, companies are encouraging the very behavior they hope to discourage.." -KalevLeetaru

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, Arizona where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Responding To YOUR Happy Social Customers?

4 Simple ways to respond to a happy customer in social media..

One thing that emerged with the advent of social media as a viable customer service channel was that customers suddenly had a vehicle with which to deliver… compliments.

Related Article: Growing YOUR Social Media Reputation?

Despite all of the bad press about heightened complaints about brands in social media – much of it deserving – an overlooked benefit of the channel is the growing list of nice things that people have to say about their customer experience.

People share their experiences on social media based on a simple equation involving expectations and emotions. If a brand exceeds expectations, customers are happy, and their willingness to share their experience in social media is actually very high. How (or even if) a brand responds greatly contributes back to the customer experience itself.

The idea that somebody takes time out of their day to tweet at a brand or post on their Facebook page something positive about their experience is really incredible. Think about it: That never used to happen before social media became popular. A call center rarely if ever got phone calls where the agent answered the phone and the person on the line said, “I'm just calling to tell you that you did a great job!” It just didn’t happen.

Related Article: Building Trust For YOUR Social Media Brand?

So why do many brands not bother to respond to compliments on social media?

--The traditional role of “customer service” is to handle problems. A recent study by Sprout Social found that 88% of social marketers say customer service is important to their brands, but that isn’t translating to brand responsiveness to positive comments. This is most likely because responding to compliments has never been part of the customer service remit.

--Social marketers have moved on. When social media arrived on the scene, marketers quickly learned that a unique aspect of this marketing channel was that customers could actually talk back. Social media gave customers a voice, and marketers were soon out of their league trying to answer complaints. Initially, they brought in customer service to handle the questions and the negative comments, leaving the fun, positive interactions for the “community manager.” But over time, all customer interactions have moved to the contact center.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Public Relations?

--Lack of resources. Many companies are not properly resourced to handle all social media interactions, and/or social media agents are pulled off that channel in times of high call volumes. This creates stress on responding to all questions and complaints, let alone compliments.

--Compared to avoiding the public relations nightmare of a negative viral tweet, the perceived value of customer compliments is relatively low. Companies believe that fixing problems is more important than keeping happy customers happy.

When someone compliments a company publicly, it gives companies valuable feedback about what they doing right.

It is important to figure out how to do more of that so you can make more customers happy. In addition, positive comments provide that elusive word-of-mouth marketing that many brands are spending lots of money to achieve – even though it is right under their noses.

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Here’s what companies should do when someone compliments them publicly:

--Say “thank you.” This seems obvious but is so often overlooked. After all, a person has just performed an unsolicited nice gesture – telling the world about the great experience he or she had – so the least companies can do is express some gratitude. Including some personalization, like the customer’s first name, agent’s first name, or a fun related GIF will make the experience more memorable.

--Engage with the happy customer. Tell them that you appreciate them as well, ask them questions about their experience, and show some interest in them since they have shown interest in the company. Consumers today want a relationship with brands, but that relationship must go both ways.

--Share or retweet positive comments. Not only is this giving the happy customer a public badge of honor, it is sharing objective feedback about the company with others. Many studies have confirmed that consumers trust friends, family and each other more than they do brands.

--If resources are severely constrained, at least take the time to “Like” or “Favorite” positive comments. This small gesture is still appreciated by power users because they know the brand has at least seen the comment.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Empathy Technology?

Since it is so difficult and expensive to acquire new customers, keeping existing customers happy is paramount.

In social media, happy customers self-identify, making the company’s job easier. So take positive feedback for what it is – a gift – and be sure to respond in kind.

Excerpts from Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences On Social Media, available on Amazon.

Guest Authored Dan Gingess. Dan is a marketing and customer experience executive who has consistently focused on delighting customers. He is the author of “Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences On Social Media” and the co-host of the Experience This! Podcast. Hear more from Dan in his book Winning at Social Customer Care and on his podcast Experience This! Follow Dan on Twitter.

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"In social media, happy customers self-identify, making the company’s job easier. So take positive feedback for what it is – a gift – and be sure to respond in kind.." -DanGingess

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Salt Lake City, UT. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Social Media Customer Service Strategy?

Try these new customer service social media strategies..

If you want better customer service -- and who doesn't? -- there are strategies, and there are social media strategies.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Empathy Technology?

Like many consumers, Ryan James, has discovered the latter lately. When he needed to arrange a wheelchair for a recent flight from Budapest to Montreal, he skipped the phone just tweeted to Air Canada.

"They were so responsive," says a James, college professor from Budapest. Problem solved.

Trouble with his virtual private network company, NordVPN? After sending a tweet, the company fixed it "within minutes." When he needed a list of Panera locations, he contacted the company via social media. It filled his order quickly.

But you'd be surprised at what's happening behind the scenes. Companies are responding to customers through social media channels like never before. Research suggests more consumers are turning to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to contact companies -- whether the companies are they're ready or not. There are important takeaways, both for companies and customers.

"Social media is the future of customer service," says Anna Yates, a content marketer for The Social Reach, a digital marketing agency. "Not only are consumers turning to social media more and more to learn about products and services, but new tools are available to make customer service faster, easier, and smarter."

Related Article: A Customer Experience Solution For YOUR Brand?

The Customer Service Social Media Tactics I See

As a consumer advocate, I've seen my social media channels go from busy to bubbling over with activity in just a few short months. Customers are looking for help, and they want to contact a company in a way that's convenient for them. They expect a fast response time. I know because they're either contacting me directly for helpor copying me on the angry tweets sent to companies.

I've covered some of the trends, including the rise of Facebook Messenger for customer service purposes, in my weekly Washington Post column.

Companies know customers expect a response. And now, they're answering.

Take Red Oxx, a small luggage manufacturer in Billings, Mont. Jenna Shanahan, the company's customer care consultant, uses Helpscout, a help-desk software system that integrates into its social channels and allows her to do social media monitoring, to answer incoming messages from its site. Red Oxx also deployed Smooch, a program that connects business software to all messaging channels, to link the Facebook messages to Helpscout.

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"We often receive customer inquiries through these channels," she says.

At an airline conference a few months ago, everyone seemed to be talking about social media strategies and customer support.

Some carriers confided that they had assigned their most senior customer service representative to staff Facebook and Twitter channels.

In other words, if you want to deal with someone who has a lot of experience handling complaints, you may be better off sending a Facebook message or a tweet.

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Ready Or Not, Here Come The Customers

There's another angle to this social network story. Companies are as interested in helping customers as they are preventing negative publicity.

There it is, the "D" word -- damage control.

Steve Pritchard, a digital marketing consultant at Cuuver, an insurance website, is quite open about the need to manage the critics.

"It is important that you set up a process to deal with disgruntled customers on social media, as many take to social media first when they encounter an issue," he says. Answer that criticism quickly, he says.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Customer Service?

"Generally, the best way to deal with these complaints is to show that you understand their frustration and sympathize with them, before referring them to your customer service team," he adds.

Put differently, social media customer service is not the same thing as customer service. Soon, many companies will integrate their social media response teams with their customer service teams.

But for now, they are mostly separate -- at least, internally. But it's important to note that people don't care about internal structures. Consumers expect a quick response online. When they see a tweet, it might as well be coming directly from the CEO.

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Don't Be So Corporate

Which brings us to the other issue regarding damage control on a social platform. It's being done in such a corporate way that it makes users wonder: "Do they really get it?"

Jay Perkins, the co-founder of Kettle Bell Kings, a health and fitness site, says companies often forget that social media allows them to defend themselves "and show what you have done right." You can push back in other ways to any negative reviews.

"Show off a bit," suggests Perkins, who manages the company's social media support department. "One of the ways we have built a great social community is by sharing customer reviews and experiences of our products by re-sharing their candid posts on social media. This would include photos or videos of them using the product directly with a quote for them and thanking them for their share in the caption. When others see this, it creates more great opportunities like this for your brand."

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These Social Media Strategies Will Help You Give -- And Get -- Better Customer Service

The takeaway for customers is clear. Companies are paying closer attention to their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, than ever. Despite what corporate America says, you might find a quick resolution to any service problem online with the right social media strategies.

The trick for getting better service through social media is equally apparent. Instead of hammering Twitter with angry comments, try what I like to call the three Ps -- be patient, persistent, and polite. Companies tend to flip into "crisis" mode when you send angry messages that threaten lawsuits, bodily harm, or the end of civilization. You might find a very receptive, senior customer service agent on the other side, ready to assist.

And how about companies who want to serve those customers? Well, most brands are still using social media to engage consumers in product and service discussions, says Jonas Sickler, marketing director at ReputationManagement. "But savvy companies are building customer care into their social media teams. This involves hiring and training a customer experience professional to work with your social marketing team," he says.

Related Article: Leveraging YOUR Social Media Reviews?

That just may be the future of customer service.

And one more thing. Don't throw money into a Zendesk or Helpscout plan if your customer service reputation is already circling the drain. Social media won't improve customer service. In fact, it may do just the opposite.

"If brands have a poor customer service process, migrating that onto social media will amplify your imperfections," adds Sickler. "You'll essentially be airing your own dirty laundry."

Guest Authored By Christopher Elliott. Christopher is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes weekly columns for King Features Syndicate, USA Today, and the Washington Post. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. Follow Christopher on Twitter.

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"The takeaway for customers is clear.

Companies are paying closer attention to their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, than ever. Despite what corporate America says, you might find a quick resolution to any service problem online with the right social media strategies.." -ChristopherElliot

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)