Monday, November 19, 2012

Using Social Media to Manage Customer Service

Using Social Media to Manage Customer Service

Link to Small Business Trends

Using Social Media to Manage Customer Service

Posted: 18 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST

Companies, large and small, who use social media channels to connect with customers on service issues are on the rise. Thirty-four percent of companies have been using social media tools for customer service for at least two years, according to The Social Customer Engagement Index 2012. This survey of 578 businesses shows that companies are beginning to see the value in opening up another channel to reach customers.

customer service

Brent Leary, co-founder and partner at CRM Essentials and a contributor here at Small Business Trends, contributed to the study. He says those companies who adapt to offering customer service through social channels will have the chance to grow their customer relationships and make their products and services more appealing. Doing this, he says, isn't limited to large businesses:

“…because smaller companies are typically more agile and responsive – and providing social/mobile service is not cost prohibitive in many instances – this makes it possible for them to compete with larger companies who aren’t able to quickly change processes and corporate cultures.”

The index highlights four companies who are using social media smartly to address customer service issues:

  • Best Buy
  • Dell
  • JetBlue
  • LL Bean

Here are a couple of lessons all businesses can take from them:

1. Start by Listening

Best Buy had zero social media presence as recently as 2008. But when Gina Debogovich was brought in as the brand's first community manager (she's now Social Connections and Innovation Senior Manager and Global COE Lead), she started by listening:

“I began by listening … to the customers online who were reaching out for customer service and technical support, to the business teams who were hesitant to engage, and to the ever-mounting industry data that showed social networks were the next horizon.”

Listening helped her build Best Buy's social customer support to be ranked #1 by Business Insider in 2012. Clearly, listening is a huge component of social media and customer service, so using it in all you do will help you better serve customers.

2. How You Work Behind the Scenes Doesn't Matter (to Customers)

When Jason Duty, Director of Social Outreach Services at Dell, got involved in social customer service, one thing quickly became clear: customers who need help don't care how you configure your platform to serve them. They didn't care about customer care hotline protocol, or how reps were assigned to cases. They just want their problems solved.

According to the Index's case study:

"Dell developed a uniform strategy that eliminated support boundaries. Its social media outreach services (SOS) team brought together its technical support and customer care functions to engage via the Internet, both for business and consumer customers."

The lesson here is to keep things simple. Don't over think the platform and infrastructure you use to connect to customers, or you might not ever actually implement it.

3. Don't Aim to Silence Customer Complaints

When a major ice storm grounded several planes in 2007, JetBlue knew it needed to do something to talk to its customers, explain what happened, and ensure them that it wouldn’t happen again. The CEO created a video on YouTube addressing his customers – a first for any CEO at the time. The response, rather than being outrage, was surprisingly supportive.

According to the case study:

"Because JetBlue fosters an informed community rather than trying to silence customer complaints, it often sees customers stepping forward to answer questions from their friends on Twitter or in the general community on Facebook."

None of us like it when our customers blast us on social media publicly. But rather than taking the stance of trying to squash the negative, instead try to preempt the negative comments by being one step ahead of customers.

4. Have Dedicated Staff in Place

In 2010, L.L. Bean observed the number of customers who were using Twitter and Facebook to ask questions, and decided to try out a pilot team with seven customer service reps who would use those channels to field customer inquiries. As the pilot thrived, the team grew to 12 members. The company's system monitors mentions of the brand and assigns tasks to team members so that nothing slips through the cracks.

It's easy to assign social media customer service to your marketing team as an afterthought, but if you really want it to succeed, put a dedicated team on the task.

Applying These Lessons

In a perfect world, you'd be able to implement all of these lessons into your own social media customer service efforts. But don't be overwhelmed by these success stories; instead, find your own path.

Robin Carey, Founder of Social Media Today, says to start with what's free:

“So many of the monitoring tools and platforms for social engagement are free or nearly so.  Google alerts, for example, was the second highest cited source for monitoring customers. Twitter and Facebook are the two leading platforms for engagement.”

Follow these lessons and apply them to your own business and you’ll be able to better manage customer service socially.

Social Media Customer Service Photo via Shutterstock

The post Using Social Media to Manage Customer Service appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Add Visual Humor To Your Website With A Cartoon Subscription Service

Posted: 18 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST

In today's world of Pinterest and Facebook, having good visual content is key to spreading your business's message. No matter what type of business you run, having quality images to accompany your content can compel your audience to not only listen to what you have to say, but also to remember it and share it with others.

But for certain types of businesses, coming up with compelling images can prove challenging. That's where Cartoonist Mark Anderson comes in, with his new business cartoon subscription service.

Said Anderson:

"Read any article on increasing your blog’s readership or getting more followers and they’ll all say something like “use relevant images to engage and entertain you readers.” It’s true. Not only are you making your content more enjoyable and memorable, but you get an SEO and image search boost. People love to share cartoons they like too, so adding a cartoon is an easy way to get extra tweets and retweets. And if you’re a business that’s trying to figure out how best to take advantage of Pinterest, pinning cartoons that link back to your content is a win-win."

Anderson's cartoons depict a wide variety of subject matters, from sales meetings to courtrooms to classrooms and everything in between. His new Andertoons subscription service allows businesses the opportunity to use an unlimited amount of cartoons on the site, with new ones added weekly, for $20 per month. Users can also choose the Premium option for $75 per month, which includes access to print ready images for use in presentations, newsletters, or similar materials.

Anderson, who started cartooning professionally about ten years ago and is a regular contributor to Small Business Trends, just launched the subscription service upon the suggestion of a blogger friend:

"I’d been offering smaller versions of my cartoons as free embeds for a while, and he said “you know, I should really be paying you for these. Maybe something like a subscription for $20 a month.” It was such a brilliant idea.”

In addition to the monthly subscription service, Anderson creates custom cartoons for clients with more specific needs.

The post Add Visual Humor To Your Website With A Cartoon Subscription Service appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Successful LinkedIn Marketing: One Hour Per Day

Posted: 18 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST

Are you on LinkedIn? Is your company on LinkedIn?  If you and your company are on LinkedIn, that's a good start. But the question then becomes, ”Why are you on LinkedIn?”

How is LinkedIn part of your marketing plan?  How can LinkedIn help you achieve your business goals?  LinkedIn has become THE social media or social business tool for business people, including CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs – for business marketing, networking and hiring.

LinkedIn, in the business community, is becoming as essential as having a website. That's how important it is for you to be on LinkedIn. But what also is vitally important is how you use LinkedIn on a regular basis.

Here are two observations:

1) The learning curve and the amount of time involved with social media is more than most business people have time for.

2) The fear of being left behind as business and technology continue to rapidly change is on the minds of business people.

Social media can be overwhelming. That's why the book, “LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour A Day” by Viveka von Rosen (@LinkedInExpert) is a book you'll want to not only read – but refer to over and over again.

I met Viveka through LinkedIn and then started to attend her #LinkedInChat every Tuesday night on Twitter. That's how I discovered the book.  The book is an A to Z, soup to nuts, crosses every "T" and dots every "I" on how to plan and organize your LinkedIn strategy; and effectively make LinkedIn work for you and your business. All in an hour a day.

I admit I was skeptical about it just taking an hour a day. I tend to be a "get it done NOW, kind of person." But with LinkedIn, the success is in the details. The author has systematically organized the book as a 5 days per week, an hour a day, business plan that spans 23 weeks. She addresses all the in's and out's, why's and how to's of using LinkedIn.

What I like about the book is how detailed, easy to read, simple to use and well organized it is. It's manageable, doable and practical for business people to read, understand and put into practice quickly. You won't feel like your back in school reading a textbook.  The book is part of the Wiley book series, An Hour A Day.

Here's how Viveka takes you through LinkedIn each week:

Weeks 1-2: Get Started: Prepare your LinkedIn presence and define your goals.

Weeks 3-6: Ready, Set, Profile: Make yourself findable and unique to stand out from the crowd and your competitors.

Weeks 7-9: Use Your Company Profile For Branding and Positioning

Weeks 10 -15: Creating And Managing A Network That Works: It's all about connecting and managing your network that will bring the results and success you're looking for.

Weeks 16-18: Getting Strategic With Groups: Building your network and creating relationships.

Weeks 19-22: Get Strategic: Getting to know other LinkedIn options to further build out your reach.

Week 23: Putting It All Together

The book also addresses how to optimize your time, LinkedIn ads, mobile apps and other tools. It's like an encyclopedia for LinkedIn. Remember, as it states at the end of the book, LinkedIn was created:

". . .to help you make better use of your professional network and help the people you trust in return."

LinkedIn has enormous potential for you as a business person, as well as for your company. It's also an opportunity to meet other business people that you might not otherwise ever meet and possibly do business with.

Remember, business is about relationships. LinkedIn can help you generate and nurture those relationships for greater, more consistent business success.

Whether you've been on LinkedIn a while and have 500+ connections or you're just starting out on LinkedIn, the book can help you move your business forward.

The post Successful LinkedIn Marketing: One Hour Per Day appeared first on Small Business Trends.
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