Listening is sooo 2009; 2010 is about the conversation
If you oversee a brand and your goal for 2010 is to start listening to people via Social Media, don’t read this post. Bookmark this post and read it in six months. If however, you’ve spent most of 2009 listening then please, by all means, read on.
I’m going to guess that you’ve learned one of the following things by your learning exercise (in order of likelihood):
1. People don’t really care about your product/service
2. People are extremely frustrated with your product/service
3. People really like your product/service
Armed with this information, most brands take the following approaches:
1. “Let’s get people talking about our brand”
2. “Let’s change their customer service experience”
3. “How can we make more money off these people?”
Let’s take a deeper dive on these three situations and see how they can be leveraged in a different way to produce different results:
1. People don’t really care about your product/service : “Let’s get people talking about our brand”
Unless you are Apple or Starbucks or Nike, this is probably the category you fall into. The obvious first response is “let’s generate some buzz!” At this point agencies (ad, PR, etc.) get involved and try to come up with some splashy ’stunt’ that will get people talking. Little thought is given though to the following:
- Who do we want talking?
- What do we want them saying?
- How do we keep the conversation going?
- Is our voice unique?
- How can we add value?
Sure, everybody loves to pass around a wacky video, and some people might even remember that your brand was behind it, but there is little long term value if you aren’t addressing the issues listed above.
2. People are extremely frustrated with your product/service : “Let’s change their customer service experience”
There is no doubt that Social Media is being used effectively for immediate customer service solutions. And from a short term perspective this makes sense. Squeeky wheels get greased and hopefully stop squeeking. But soon we’ve created a Frankenstein’s Monster we can’t control. Now everyone with any issue at all is being given a public opportunity to call your brand out and demand satisfaction. You’ve now said it’s ok for every issue and complaint to be handled publicly. Would a doctor or lawyer or accountant do this?
As I thought about this issue my mind naturally turned to Nordstrom, the department store with the legendary customer service reputation. Sure enough, they have a Twitter account. And sure enough, they are using it for customer service. The problem is, people know the deal with Nordstom and so they get bombarded with complaints. As I look at their feed this is what I see:
- So sorry that we let you down. Could you DM us with more information so that we could look into this for you?
- We r so sorry that u had a bad experience. Could u DM us w/which store u were in so we can pass ur feedback on to the store mngr?
- We’re really sorry to hear that. We appreciate your feedback and will pass it along to the Fashion Valley store manager.
My take-away? Man, Nordstrom messes up a lot, they are always apologizing for something.
Everyone jumped on the ‘Twitter as Customer Service tool’ bandwagon, but I don’t think they really thought through the ramifications. Better to sort these issues out in-store, or if you are going to do it remotely, by phone (just don’t leave people on hold for more than two minutes!)
3. People really like your product/service : “How can we make more money off these people?”
Now you’re trying to measure new platforms using old ROI metrics. The question is: “How can we bring more value to these people?” If you can answer that, not only will you keep them as customers, but you’ll inspire them to become your best marketing tools. Trying to squeeze another purchase out of people with ‘last second deals’ or unnecessary upgrades is a short term proposition for most brands. Staying relevant isn’t a matter of ’sell, sell, sell’ it’s about context and relevancy.
Without a doubt, listening is the first step to any Social Media engagement. In 2010 it’s time for action, just make sure your action has purpose, and that your purpose serves your long term goals. That’s the best usage of Social Media.
Your Nordstrom example about using Twitter for customer service: my take-away is that they probably need a Twitter account dedicated to customer service, with a link to that department, other contact info. Separate some of the complaints from the general feed (and stop messing up so much).
The problem with many companies’ “listening” policy is that they aren’t really hearing what folks have to say, they’re just waiting for their turn to speak (or “sell, sell”). Time to pay attention, have a plan for how you’ll respond, and why. FWIW.
Great points Rick.
I’m not a big fan of Bonnie Raitt (in fact I generally loathe only two types of music . . . ‘country and western’). That said – - I think her song, “Let’s give them something to talk about” speaks volumes about your prediction for 2010.
Control the things you can control. Deliver a great product or service and exceed the expectations of your customers. Provide that ‘little signature something extra’ . . . a purple goldfish.
Using a little artistic license on the song lyrics:
Let’s give them something to talk about
A little mystery to figure out
Let’s give them something to talk, blog, Facebook and tweet about . . .
Thought this post was excellent & spot on. Great stuff Rick!
[...] I was reading a post this week from Rick Liebling over at EYECUBE. [...]
[...] Too often this puts companies on the defensive. As Rick Liebling referenced in a recent post on EYECUBE, it ends up looking like the company is apologizing a [...]