Where do we go when EVERYONE complains on Social Media?
One of the big things that I see a lot of our clients doing these days after they start listening is engagging with their customers on a one-to-one basis. Not surprisingly, a lot of the “engagement” on microblogs tends to be customer service related issues. People are starting to realize that they can complain in a public space and get faster and often better responses through these channels. And I guess that’s a good thing… but what happens when everyone decides to start using social media to complain and criticize companies for problems that they are having. Are we sending the right message to say that it is okay to complain loudly (and maybe even unfairly) on social media, if you want to get what you want?
I recently talked to someone who manages Social Media at a US-based consumer company who told me that she sends unhappy customers on Social Media directly to the high-priority customer response team. I think that’s great, and it works at this level, but is it sustainable over the long run as more and more people lay their grievances out in cyberspace? I don’t really think it is.
And that to a degree is where Social CRM can have a place. The example that I have heard Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group) give a couple times related to social CRM involves the case of Heather Armstrong who tweeted about her experience at Whirlpool to her million or so followers. It ended up hitting the mainstream media, and turned out to be a bit of a disaster for the company. In an ideal world, Social CRM could have prevented this incident by giving the customer service rep working with Nancy the ability to see the social power that she could wield over the company.
It seems a bit unfair to give someone with a lot of followers the advantage of better customer service. But then again, how is this different than providing service to a public figure or celebrity? When I have status with an airline or a hotel group, I certainly expect a higher level of service as well. Maybe it is okay and actually the right thing to do to give someone with a high level of influence an edge in customer service.
So to answer my question: I think that more people will continue to complain on Social Media, and companies will have to expand the role of customer service into microblog channels to make sure that those complaints are not falling on deaf ears. But at the same time, we should expect better integration of Social CRM which includes not only levels of influence on Social Media, but also customer loyalty statistics and other factors to drive varying levels of service. To that end, companies should think about their current “appeasement” strategy, so that customers do not get too used to getting what they want for screaming at the top of their lungs. And this of course, comes from a well thought out Social Media Policy.
