9 Ways Top Brands Use Social Media for Better Customer Service

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9 Ways Top Brands Use Social Media for Better CustomerService

October 28, 2011 by Rohit Bhargava 39

Rohit Bhargava is SVP of global digital strategy at Ogilvy , an award-winning marketing blogger and the

best-selling author of Personality Not Included , a book

about creating a more human brand. His is currently writing

his second book called Likeonomics on how to be more

believable.

When an irate traveler tweeted about how he had arrived

late to The Four Seasons in Palo Alto and been “bumped”

to an inferior room, the hotel saw it immediately and

responded, promising to make it up to him. Turns out, the customer spends about 60 nights a year in Palo

Alto for work, and promised in his next tweet to spend many of those nights at The Four Seasons.

The brand has had several similar stories posted online by delighted customers, and they are exactly the kind

of successes that justify the investment in social media for customer service (which, in turn, drives sales).

Oct. 27 was the first day of the Social Media for Customer Care Summit in New York, a gathering of some of

the largest brands in the world focused on how social service can be leveraged more effectively. Nearly every

brand was struggling with the same three big questions, which became discussion topics and hashtags in

their own right:

How can customer care better integrate with other functions across a company, like marketing?

#integrationHow can an organization take the efforts of one or two pioneering individuals and employ it

brand-wide? #scaling

How can social media be used to mitigate negative posts or a brand crisis? #crisis

Throughout the day, there were many strong ideas and lessons offered on these topic. Here are just a few of

the highlights.

#Integration

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1. Don’t allow any one team to own social media. (KLM)

In April 2010, Dutch airline KLM was thrown into the jaws of social media head first thanks to the Icelandic

ash cloud that covered Europe and grounded flights across the continent for nearly a week. Moving quickly,

KLM earned credit by creating a rebooking tool for Facebook within 24 hours and created a “multi-

functional” team across customer service, marketing, PR and operations. For the world’s largest airline, this

forced integration was just what they needed to build a highly sophisticated view that social media belongs

belongs everywhere across the company. When they recently launched 24/7 support on Twitter and

Facebook, they did it through a highly engaging “Live Replies” campaign in which they responded to tweets

with a small army of staff in an airplane hanger holding up signs.

2. Go through the experience to really get it. (Telus)

Canadian telecom brand Telus shared an important lesson about walking in someone else’s shoes. For them,

it meant bringing executives into the real “down and dirty” conversations that customers were having with

service reps on social media channels. As Carol Borghesi, senior vice president of the brand’s Customer First

initiative candidly shared, Telus was rated high on the Canadian list of companies with the “worst customer

service.” Social media is a key component of how they plan to be the first telecom in Canada to make it off

that notorious list.

3. Help your customer service people feel like rock stars. (Zappos)

Of course, no conference about customer service would be complete without a great Zappos story, and

Scott Klein and Marlene Kanagusuku from its customer loyalty team certainly delivered. A key thread in theirpresentation was how every employee is required to take four weeks of customer service training, and they

are planning to cash in for the holiday season by bringing everyone from across the company in to man the

phones and work with customers directly during that busiest time.

#ScalingREAD NEXT

Pinterest for Brands: 5 HotTipsBUSINESS


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4. Get top-level buy-in through stories and data. (Citi)

Frank Eliason became something of a rock star within the world of social customer care thanks to his work

founding the @comcastcares Twitter account and helping to change that brand’s corporate culture. Now he’s

got a unique point of view on how and why social media for customer service is a failure, and how brands

can fix it. One of his main points was that you need to combine data with real powerful stories in order to

actually make a change. As he shared, “I’ve never met a CEO who wanted to create a bad customer

experience.” Amen.

5. Find your ROI formula to justify your own existence. (Xbox)

Everyone has his own secret strategy for how to answer the big ROI question. But McKenzie Eakin, LIVE

community programs manager for Xbox pulled back the curtain on her relatively simple formula:

Unique customers engaged with Xbox on Twitter x The percent of people who say they would have called

instead of tweeting x Average cost per call = $$ saved in call center costs.

It’s not a perfect methodology, but it’s all about finding the right lens through which to view data your

company cares about.

6. Consider and leverage employees’ personal passions. (Best Buy)

No discussion of scaling a social media for customer service effort would be complete without delving into

the amazing work of Best Buy and its Twelpforce. All 180,000 of their employees are encouraged to use

social media tools (a staggering number) and they have many training programs and content creation

initiatives (like an in-house production studio). One important key — they let employees share their personal

passions for technology and intersect those with their jobs. More companies should find a way to do this.

#Crisis READ NEXT



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7. Don’t freak out. (Four Seasons)

Earlier in the post, I started with a great customer service example from The Four Seasons hotels. While this

tip itself was not something that Andrew Gillespie, Four Seasons’s manager of guest services, shared from

the stage, it was an important reminder. Not every piece of negativity from a customer is bad news. Many

times, it’s an opportunity to confound expectations, deliver something unexpected and completely turn that

experience around.

8. Respond with empathy, but defend your brand. (Comcast)

Kip Wetzel didn’t have an easy job when he became the new voice of the @comcastcares Twitter handle. At

the conference, he talked about striking the right tone, how a human quality like empathy can be translated

into 140 characters, and how engaging on social media doesn’t mean you need to let go of defending yourbrand. Be real and genuine and detailed, but also share the truth.

9. Don’t feed the trolls. (Samsung)

In one of the final sessions of the day, Carla Saavedra from Samsung shared the important reminder that not

everyone is worth engaging online. Some people are looking to pick a fight, get free stuff, or just get some

attention on Twitter. Ignore those trolls and have a real strategic or customer-centric reason for responding to

content online. This relates closely to the scaling topic because you can’t scale without prioritizing your

responses.

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38 Comments

Corbin Kappler Follow

If only there were a tool…

October 28, 2011 Reply 0 Flag this comment

1.

Mark Ryan Tripole Follow 2.

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This was definitely an enjoyable read enough said. Everything that one needs in order to

establish better customer service through social media is addressed by those three questions. And I

wholeheartedly agree with the rep from Samsung, not everyone is worth engaging online. It all boils

down to every detail on how customer service responds to their respective consumers.


Ulises Bolivar Follow

9 maneras mejores marcas utilizan las redes sociales para la mejor atención al cliente


3.

Sid Hassim Follow

Right up my alley, pay attention folks


4.

Kev Hudson Follow

“Technology erodes brand loyalty”


5.

Rae Gross Follow

I ran the Twitter and Facebook account for Boost Mobile when they were going through

some growing pains, and I found that just tell ing people that you are working on an issue will make

them feel better. They are worried that you as a vendor are not aware of an issue, and thus it will not

be fixed. Communicating awareness, empathy, and promises of a quick resolution make 95% of

people feel happy and heard.

PS – love the idea of everyone doing social media at a company, but if you want a social media team,

this is what I think it takes: http://www.theprprofessional.com/forming-the-perfect-social-media-team/


Nathan Weaver Follow

I agree about communicating awareness, Rae.

Response + Response Time = Happy Customer.

That’s been our experience where I work. We respond quickly, and even if it’s just to say

‘We’re not sure yet, we’ll check into this.’ And then respond a second time with the answer.

Our staff at the Missouri S&T Video Communications Center has built a fantastic reputation

with our students and faculty by being responsive (and as the post says, ‘empathetic’).

And oddly enough, we’ve built and maintained most of this reputation using a group email

address (which goes to all of our staff from Tech Guys to Producers to Management),

phone calls (when email just won’t cut it), WebEx sessions (if it’s a big, or bizarre issue),

and face-to-face contact. We’ve been on Facebook for over a year now, and what we’vefound is our customers still email or call us for help.

6.

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McGregorAaron Follow

cool way is quentativo.com @QUENTATIVO today is fun with?


7.

Patrick Cummings Follow

i think the use of social media is maturing a bit in terms of companies using throughout their

entire organization VS marketing/sales only approaches. will be a good change for the consumer and

hopefully drive companies to build customer meaningful relationships VS referring to a consumer as

an ID #


8.

Laura Wilson Follow

Rohit is one of my favorite professor’s at Georgetown. I particularly like the rep from

Samsung’s advice about scaling and prioritizing responses. There are some people who just don’t

warrant your time to respond but I think the trouble is identifying who those people are. Sometimes it’s

not so obvious.


9.

Cristhian Ferrufino Follow

must read!


10.

Elizabeth Redd Follow

Do you believe in Social Media Customer service


Jeff Woodruff Follow

I absolutely believe in social media for customer service and I’ll have to say I

almost always get the the assistance/response I need via twitter much faster than email or

phone. I had Comcast in mind when I saw the title of this post and sure enough, there they

were listed as one of the example brands. I was never a huge fan of Comcast’s level of

customer support until I happened to sent out a tweet that I wasn’t even expecting a

response to regarding some concerns I had. If you’re interested in reading more about the

incident, I wrote a post about the whole experience.

http://bit.ly/ComcastCustSvc

I actually had some service issues after I wrote that post and sure enough they were

addressed right away just as before.

11.

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I know this is only one example, but I think that if a company has the resources to use

social media for customer service, and to do it correctly, social media is a great platform

for doing so.


Joel Marc Follow

Simply Brilliant!! These guys get it.


12.

Valerie Wire Follow

Great tips worth reading! #SoMePR


13.

Esteban Contreras Follow

Nicely done @samsungcarla


14.

shira abel Follow

Great article, fantastic examples.


15.

sherrychris Follow

This is a great post for all companies


16.

Melissa Robison Follow

Yes, nice article. I agree that social media is a great tool for customer service. As this article

mentions, I also recommend that clients put the effort and care into social media to make it a

company-wide effort, where possible. The Zappos philosophy that every employee is required to take

four weeks of customer service training and Best Buy’s Twelpforce are good examples of this.


17.

Joanne Redwood Follow

Social media is a fabulous tool and gaining insight


18.

19.

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Franco Pepe Kalle Follow

I would promote PEPSI. It is a great drink.


TomLambie Follow

It’s a shame all businesses/ brands that use Facebook for business aren’t more ‘clued-up’ on

how to engage/ interact with their customers on Facebook.

Some of them are absolutely clueless.


20.

Larry McAllister II Follow

Some useful practices.


21.

Harrods Ltd Follow

Very interesting article – it is always good to see how other companies handle the subject of

social media in relation to delivering great customer service as this is a key part of the social

conversation for any business.


22.

Sally-Anne Follow

Great article!


23.

Main Uddin Follow

Top brands can easily reach their goals in social media but we the small brands like

http://focusa2z.com is just wasting time and money in social media


24.

TwoMenVegas Follow

Great article. Great things in this article to emulate.

November 01, 2011 Reply 0 Flag this comment

25.

paul Sargaison Follow

Always interesting to see how succesful businesses are doing it!

26.

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Brant Emery Follow

A damn good checklist – I think there is a big wealth of social media cases showing it’s

leaving the domain of the hyped trend and entering the realm of an integrated consumer-centric

initiative, as it should be. I like that Rohit is a digital strategist and firmly places these points asreminders that it’s all about engaging with people. As I like to remind people, consumers are not

zombies.


27.

TELUSint Follow

Rohit – great facilitation job at SMCS in NY! Social media has the potential to transform

customer contact if we do it right. TELUS’ recent Social Care Benchmark Study

(www.telusinternational.com/social_care_study) examined the SCRM methods of several Fortune 500

brands. Social care is clearly a brand building opportunity – and customer support departments candirectly boost (even lead) the overall brand sentiment scores for their companies when social care is

provided correctly. Lots still to learn as an early adopter of social care but this ‘aha’ is shaping our

own customer service practices. – Carol, TELUS


28.

Kamille Wilkinson Follow

Brand Marketing!


29.

RichardRShapiro Follow

Rohit, what a great and valuable recap of the Conference on Social Media for Customer

Service? Your examples are so descriptive and useful and can be employed as a roadmap for almost

any company. It was also great to meet you and Becky Carroll last week after the conference ended.

Kudos! For someone who was not lucky enough to attend the event this post is filled with numerous

gold nuggets of valuable info! Richard Shapiro, The Center For Client Retention @richardrdshapiro


30.

Rm Sorg Follow

Great read!


31.

Rm Sorg Follow

Great read… And a great way to show how SM can help with customer service issues… It’s

another great way to point out how important it is for brands to be online “listening” to their customersconcerns or issues..

32.

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Thanks for the post!


Amy Donnelly Follow

“Respond with empathy, but defend your brand”


33.

Juan Baez Follow

I believe that the time factor is also important. If a client asks for information, or for help, or

even complain it is essential to answer the posts as fast as possible. I think brands are also incepted

by quality customer service.


34.

Kay Wilson Follow

Rohit, this was very informative but more important to me, is the thought of creating a twitter

acct for customer appreciation stories. I am in the Wellness Industry and although I give samples and

special things for my customers, It would be great to have a place where I can leave a note to publish

more appreciation & encouragement stories. Your opinion? A tweet, a FB book note and of course, an

email.


35.

buzzquotient Follow

Its true. Social Media is for everyone working in an organization. It should be accesible and

used by one and all as it gives chance to create brand awareness and maintain online reputation and

this can be done by any employee of the organisation. Also Social Media helps in removing negative

buzz about a brand and this boosts brand value and help gain loyal customers. Also letting employees

share their personal passions for technology and intersect those with their jobs increases customer

service effort.


36.

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9 Ways Top Brands Use Social Media for Better Customer Service