Social media marketing to most in the C-suite is still a campaign-based tactic, viewed and managed separately, but it really should be integrated. Social media marketing needs to be woven into the fabric of all marketing channels and strategically managed from a 360-degree perspective.
This integration is especially important around Customer Service, where the disparity between the customer experience in the social media channel and the customer experience in the traditional channel is a dangerous chasm. The result is a mixed message around Customer Service – an area where none of us can afford to be unclear or inconsistent!
Think of it from the customer perspective (as you always should): they get a quick response and dedicated attention in the social media channel, and then are subjected to the “same-old, same-old” via traditional customer service channel. Long waits (phone or in person) and inattention in one channel will immediately cancel out any gains from your social media marketing channel.
As you can see, social media marketing desperately needs to be integrated into ALL marketing channels!
This integration of course takes time, but you can start the integration immediately with absolutely no technical changes. Simply be diligent in your social media channel about setting your customers’ expectations. If the reality of your traditional Customer Service channel includes a 7-10 day response (refunds or backorder fulfillment, for example), then use your social media channel to respond immediately… and TELL THEM about the 7-10 day reality. Then go fix that timeline, and when it is fixed… tell that too.
Think of it this way: broken promises and mixed messages are a quick way to send your customers away. Kept promises and integrated messages, systems, and management are a quick way to create Brand Advocates… the heart of your social media marketing channel.
The biggest marketing weakness today is the mixed message around Customer Service. It’s up to your company to make integration a priority and give your brand a chance.
-Ted Rubin, Social Media Strategist
Ted Rubin
Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky
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Hi Ted,you sketch out the typical long waits on the phone the we all know from trying to contact companies. Then you suggest that Social Media ‘stands for’ quick and direct responses. But that is a bit unfair. Companies do not have unlimited resources that can react in the Social Media space. Just like companies choose to limit the number of call center agents, hence the long waits, they also limit the number of social media agents. If those social media agents get more busy they will at some point not react quickly anymore…and we’ll be waiting for days to get a reaction….:-( So isn’t reaction time simply a capacity issue that has nothing to do with Social Media?
Martijn, not sure if you understood the point of my post. I think it is important to make sure we are all on the same page. That goes for reaction time as well as message. Many companies are have marketing teams that say one thing about the brand, and then consumers learn a whole different story when they call a customer service team disconnected from that brand message.
In addition many are quickly pleasing those complaining or reaching out via social, because it is public, and not doing the same via customer service. But as Jeffrey Hayzlett pointed out in our interview, http://youtube.com/tedrubinUSA, 800 numbers are dead, they just do not know it yet. This will all be handled much more efficiently, publically, cost-effectively via social very soon… at least for those who jump in and grasp the opportunity.
Ted, thanks for your quick reply, great! I agree with the main point of your article about being all on the same page. My worry is that now that Social Media is hot/new we hear all these great stories about how easily and quickly issues got resolved. But there needs to be enough staff to do that. In theory companies could also be quick if that staff was picking up the phone or replying to emails. I just hope providing customer service via social media doesn’t end up like callcenters have….slow and ineffective.
Read my post. The beauty of social is that if you answer questions in a public environment then many are seeing the answers at once. Also allows you to be in front of a lot of emerging issues much more effectively. Read my post… http://www.social2b.com/index.php/2011/03/13/when-customer-service-drops-the-ball-who-do-you-call-twitter/
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