Corporate Social Media

If there’s one thing that I learned working summers in resorts/hospitality, it’s that every customer is special.  Providing a unique and fulfilling experience to each and every customer can turn brand ambassadors out of a lot of people.  And that can result in repeat customers, great word of mouth reviews and overall success in your business.  With so many companies turning to Social Media (especially micro-blogs like Twitter) to monitor consumer sentiment and customer service issues, it’s important to think of this channel in the same way that Disney engages off-line in their parks and how Zappos engages online with shoe shoppers.

Employees need to be empowered to help frustrated or unhappy customers at the first point of contact.  This is a pretty scary thing to do, because there are so many points where the system can be gamed.  But ultimately, despite the inevitable gaming by a few, most of the brands that we respect and consider to be the most customer oriented offer immediate support.  I’ve now talked to a number of marketing directors who have taken this approach to Twitter, and I think it’s a great thing to do.  Granted that you may be rewarding some consumers for bad behavior, overall, most people complain on Social Media because they actually have a problem.  If you can help resolve their problem quickly and efficiently, that’s a lot of great PR and good faith value that you can take advantage of.

People love companies who listen, and I think this is the time to really put together a strategy for what type of empowerment you want to give your employees in the online world.  The reason that there has been so much talk about Zappos these days is that they have really made empowerment and customer service a part of their core cultural values.  And they have done it in an online forum.

So here it is.  Don’t say that you are going to respond to customer complaints on Social Media and leave it at that.  Think about how much empowerment you will give your front line to act upon issues that they see coming through the pipe.  Will it be a dollar value?  Will it be a level of service?  Will it be a phone call or email?  Spell these things out, put it on paper, and then your people can work to make your customers happier.

Like walking through a modern art museum, one has to make choices when reading a book about something as new and radical as micro-blogging, especially in the context of corporate communications. Deborah Micek and Warren Whitlock have taken a great first step towards illustrating how and why micro-blogging should be embraced as well as some basic tips to get started in the right direction in their recent book: Twitter Revolution (2008). There are lots of smart insights throughout, but below I have listed the key takeaways from the book that I see affecting corporations as they take on micro-blogging.

Whether it be in the form of Twitter or another type of social media, two-way communication between the customer and the company is here to stay, and corporations should take the leap of faith that this is the manner in which PR efforts will look like in the future. By taking the next steps to engage, persuade and connect with the customer, organizations can formulate the core strategies of how they will provide value to their customers.

 Social Media in General

• IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONVERSATION
• Speed, people, participation, persuasion and conversation
• We’re moving to conversations; no longer lectures, press releases, etc.
• Connect with your clients/customers immediately (cell phone, etc.)
• It’s not about marketing; it’s about being persuasive, seductive and influential

10 Reasons to Tweet

1. Communication

2. Brand Recognition – Top of Mind Awareness

3. Reputation Management – Andrew Beal – Radically Transparent

4. Networking

5. Get New Clients – Seth Godin – Tribes

6. Find and Connect with Influencers

7. SEO

8. Trend Spotting – Tweetscan.com

9. Focus Groups/Feedback

10. Engage the Conference Experience

Things to Remember

• Jason Jenning – it’s no longer: BIG eat small, but rather FAST eat slow
• Make an impact with every Tweet
• Most products today are BOUGHT not SOLD. Interesting distinction.
• If you want to be listen, you should listen and interact
• People do business with people
• Business is now always personal – Don’t pitch, be personal
• “Contests are the new advertising” – Think Zappos
• Simon Leung – GOOG views social media as a high authority site > static web
• Nancy Marmdejo – PR people know that great leads come from relationship building not press releases

Twitter Tips

• Share a tip a day
• Leave open-ended questions on Twitter
• Try not to use avatars in your Twitter account
• Get higher click through by captivating the reader and influential language
• Have multiple accounts based on your needs – Think about it from a branding perspective
• Polarized tweeters are buyers
• Controversy sells, repels and attracts
• Sometimes ignore critics; you will attract and connect by providing value and benefit

Recommended Books

Smart Mobs – The next social revolution – Howard Rheingold

Radically Transparent – Andrew Beal

Naked Conversations – Robert Scoble

Tribes – Seth Godin