Special Tweetment?

It goes without saying that social networking media such as Facebook, Twitter, et al are proving themselves to be a valuable channel through which to engage with customers. They encourage two-way communication, debate and exchange of information and ideas between brand and consumer. Online social networks offer companies the opportunity to participate in a social space with its customers, entering their world and interacting at a level never before possible. Traditional communication barriers no longer exist, and it is possible to create a community of ‘followers’ or group members and tap into what has been described as the ‘hive’ mentality, where people align themselves with a group of people with similar interests.

Clearly, this can have many positive effects for a retailer: building customer loyalty and sense of community; driving traffic to websites or into stores; the opportunity to market new products, services and events at a low cost - to name but a few. But what are the benefits to the consumer?

Well, there’s the obvious – the opportunity to be kept up to date with news from a company you like, the chance to give direct feedback and feel like you’re involved in shaping the company, feeling part of a community etc. However, some recent experiences suggest that the benefits for the customer are far greater than they may seem at first glance, and that the presence of retailers and brands in social networking spaces affords the consumer more power than ever before.

A couple of recent examples from both myself and a friend involving not retailers, but service providers (although it’s easy to see how this could equally apply to retailers), show what a powerful tool social networking sites can be for the consumer voice, particularly in terms of getting complaints resolved. Without going into the (many) laborious details of my particular case with Virgin Media (for the sake of my own sanity as well as in the interests of not boring you), suffice to say I was recently on the receiving end of what can only be described as a comedy of errors on the part of this particular service provider. Extremely dissatisfied (to put it mildly) with their service and subsequent handling and ‘closure’ (their words) of my formal complaint, I found myself seething with anger but without anywhere else to go. Later, browsing my Twitter page, it occurred to me to have a look at whether Virgin Media had their own page. They did, and I posted a comment describing my disgust at their customer service - not really expecting anything to come of it but feeling better for having vented my frustration and, I suppose, having the last word!

I kid you not when I say that within minutes, I received a ‘tweeted’ response from someone at Virgin Media, asking me to send him the details of my disgruntlement. I did so, and literally within the hour received a call from someone from the CEO’s office! I called him back and we had a lovely chat - he was very understanding and remorseful, offered me some compensation and an apology – which is all I was really looking for – and I was a happy(ish) customer again (perhaps all the more so, knowing I had the direct line to someone very senior there should any future problems arise!)

Chatting to a friend about this and their very similar experience with BT got me thinking. Whilst it’s obviously great that we eventually got our individual complaints resolved, is it really right that going through the ‘proper’ channels and following the company’s official complaints procedure led us both down a one way street of no satisfaction, and barely even an apology from the ‘customer service’ reps who read from a script essentially saying nothing more than ‘computer says no’. Yet, when a grievance is aired so publicly on Twitter, it is speedily resolved within the hour?

It highlights an inconsistency and frankly, ingenuity on the part of these particular companies who appear to have little desire to turn negative customer experiences into positive ones, until the dirty linen is aired in public, so to speak. But if handled correctly and consistently, in my opinion, this should be seized upon by the retailer or company as an opportunity and seen as another benefit of engaging with customers through social networking sites. After all, it’s another chance – perhaps the last one - to put something right and restore your customer’s faith before they disappear, and potentially to get some positive word-of-mouth advertising to boot.

However you look at it, social networking sites herald a new power for consumers not only to engage with a brand when they’re happy, but also when they are unhappy with products or services. Before, reaching the end of the line with an official channel usually meant just that, unless it was a particularly juicy case that could make the papers and potentially damage a brand. The ability to post disgruntlement on Twitter and such like is so public, it increases the pressure on companies to respond and resolve issues satisfactorily.

Of course, they could just remove the offending posts, but this would be very underhand and really defeats the whole purpose of putting yourself in these social spaces in the first place. If you can dish it out, you have to be prepared to take it!

What are your thoughts on integrating Twitter and other social media into your customer service tool box?

Rachel Bradbury is a retail marketing guru, copy writing enthusiast and recent Twitter convert.

E: feedback@retailmarketingmaxim.co.uk